MUSINGS ON IRAQ
This Day In Iraqi History - Apr 8 France approved Sykes-Picot agreement Baghdad and Basra vilayets would go to UK Mosul to France Independent Arab state would also be created under UK-French influence
1915 PM Asquith ordered committee created to determine which parts of Ottoman Empire
UK should get Would lead to creation of Iraq
(Musings On Iraq review U.S. Policy In Post-Saddam Iraq)
1916 British attack upon Sannaiyat bogged down
1916 France approved Sykes-Picot agreement Gave Baghdad and Basra vilayets to UK
Mosul to France Included independent Arab state for Sharif Hussein
(Musings On Iraq review Empires of the Sand, The Struggle For Mastery In The Middle East 1789-1923)
1917 British took Balad from Ottomans
1919 UK and France began negotiations to give France oil concession in Iraq in return for UK
getting Mosul province
(Musings On Iraq review Enemy On The Euphrates, The Battle For Iraq 1914-1921)
1941 German Foreign Office said it supported Arab action against British for their Freedom Berlin
sent message to Mufti of Jerusalem in Baghdad that Germany willing to provide war aid to Iraq
1941 UK Joint Planning Staff said all measures should be taken to overthrow PM Gaylani
(Musings On Iraq interview World War II In Iraq and Syria Interview With Case Western’s Prof Broich)
1941 PM Churchill ordered Sec of State for India to put together force to be sent to Iraq
(Musings On Iraq review Blood, Oil and the Axis: The Allied Resistance Against A Fascist State In Iraq and the Levant, 1941)
(Musings On Iraq review 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 Rashid Ali al-Gailani, The National Movement in Iraq 1939-1941)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq And Syria 1941, The Politics and Strategy of the Second World War)
1942 UK ambassador to Iraq Sir Cornwallis wrote PM Said was following through with Anglo-Iraq
Treaty and anti-British forces were being put into concentration camps
1950 During Passover grenade thrown at Jewish coffee shop in Baghdad seriously injuring 4 Might’ve
been done by underground Zionist group sent by Israel
(Musings On Iraq review Iraqi Jews, A History of Mass Exodus)
1980 DIA said 50% chance Iraq would invade Iran Said Iraq thought Iranian military weak and could
easily be defeated
1980 Ayatollah Khomeini broadcast speech calling on Iraqis to topple their govt
(Musings On Iraq review The Longest War, The Iran-Iraq Military Conflict)
Musings On Iraq review Saddam’s War, An Iraqi Military Perspective of the Iran-Iraq War
1981 Sec State Haig said that Iraq was an important Middle Eastern country and hoped for better
relations in future
1982 Syria closed border to Iraq Claimed Saddam backed Muslim Brotherhood against Assad
1983 Dawa bombed offices of Iraqi Airways in Baghdad
(Musings On Iraq Interview A History Of Iraq’s Islamic Dawa Party With Lowy Inst for Intl Policy’s Dr Rodger Shanahan)
(Musings On Iraq review The Shi’ite Movement in Iraq)
1985 2nd War of the Cities ended
1985 UN Sec Gen de Cuellar went to Baghdad where Saddam said Iraq was ready to enter into talks
to end war
(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)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 1: The Battle for Khuzestan, September 1980-May 1982)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 2: Iran Strikes back, June 1982-December 1986)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 3: Iraq’s Triumph)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 4: The Forgotten Fronts)
1991 European Community agreed to provide humanitarian aid to Kurds Suggested a safe haven for
Kurdish refugees in northern Kurdistan Idea approved by European Union
1991 US agreed to $10 mil in humanitarian aid to Kurds
(Musings On Iraq review The United States And Iraq Since 1990: A Brief History with Documents)
1991 US White House lawyers decided to try to deny docs on US-Iraq policy to Congressional
investigators Congress looking into US giving credits to Iraq Some of money used to buy tech for Iraq’s nuclear WMD and missile programs
(Musings On Iraq review Spider’s Web, The secret history of how the White House illegally armed Iraq)
1992 Kurds announced elections for Kurdish parliament and leader would be held 5/17/92
1995 PUK-KDP ceasefire in civil war Turkey mediated Ankara hoped to gain PUK-KDP help against
PKK in return
(Musings On Iraq review The Kurds, A Modern History)
2001 Czech Inter Min claimed 9/11 terrorist Atta met with Iraqi intelligence in Prague Story false
(Musings On Iraq Overview of America’s Policy Towards Iraq: From The Clinton Years To The
Sectarian War of 2006)
2003 Bush said UN would play crucial role in creating an interim Iraqi govt but US had rejected role
for UN
(Musings On Iraq review Leap of Faith, Hubris Negligence, and America’s Greatest Foreign Policy
Tragedy)
2003 US forces surrounded Baghdad US A-10 jet shot down by Iraqi surface to air
missile over city US 3rd Infantry Div reached downtown Baghdad
(Musings On Iraq review Voices From Iraq, A People’s History, 2003-2009)
2003 US Special Forces and Peshmerga took Tuz Kharmato Salahaddin to cut off Kirkuk from the south
2003 Ayatollah Haeri said Iraq’s Shiites needed to seize power now that Saddam overthrown and
oppose US plans
(Musings On Iraq A Divided Sadr Trend)
(Musings On Iraq Early Report On Iran’s Activities In Iraq)
2003 Site south of Baghdad searched for chemical weapons but nothing found
2003 Sec Def Rumsfeld had meeting to find replacement for ORHA head Garner for new presidential
envoy to Iraq
(Musings On Iraq Special Inspector General For Iraq Reconstruction Hard Lessons Chapter 4 Staging in Kuwait)
(Musings On Iraq review State of Denial, Bush At War, Part III)
2003 British army appointed Muzahim Tamimi former general and Baathist as head of Basra province
Provoked demonstrations leading to Tamimi’s removal
2004 CENTCOM cmdr Gen Abizaid said that US would get Fallujah under control
2004 Fighting in Fallujah left 460 Iraqis and 36 US troops dead
(Musings On Iraq US Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 12 Things Fall Apart Apr 2004)
(Musings On Iraq review The Battle for Fallujah, Occupation, Resistance and Stalemate in the War in Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review First Fights In Fallujah, Marines During Operation Vigilante Resolve, in Iraq, April 2004)
2004 Insurgents attacked Baquba Muqdadiya and Khalis in Diyala Baquba fell to militants
2004 US 1st Armored Div retook Kut from Mahdi Army
2004 Several Japanese aid workers kidnapped
2004 Inter Min Badran and Human Rights Min Turki resigned Sheikh Hatim from Amara suspended
membership in Iraqi Governing Council Pachachi considered resigning as well All over Sadr uprising and Battle of Fallujah
(Musings On Iraq review No True Glory, A Frontline Account of the Battle for Fallujah)
2004 UN Rep Brahimi threatened to end his work to create interim govt over Battle of Fallujah
2004 Bremer asked US cmdr in Iraq Gen Sanchez for ceasefire in Battle of Fallujah and against Sadr
because Iraqi Governing Council coming apart
2006 Iraqi general said country in a civil war
2007 1000s of Sadrists held anti-U.S. occupation march in Najaf
2008 Report 10% of Basra police facing legal action for not fighting Mahdi Army during Charge of
Knights Around 1,600 fired arrested or went AWOL
2008 End of PM Maliki’s deadline for militias to disarm in Basra Had not been successful ISF
planned sweeps through Basra to confiscate weapons but had been delayed twice
2008 US forces moved into southern Sadr City to build wall to prevent attacks on Green Zone Led to
fighting with Mahdi Army
(Musings On Iraq review Death of the Mehdi Army, The Rise, Fall, and Revival of Iraq’s Most Powerful Militia)
(Musings on Iraq US Army In The Iraq War Volume 2 Chapter 8 Crescendo: Maliki Against The Sadrists)
2008 Gen Petraeus told Congress Baghdad had only accepted 21,000 Sahwa out of 91,000 into ISF
(Musings On Iraq review Surge, My Journey with General David Petraeus and the Remaking of the Iraq War)
2008 Gen Petraeus said Shiite Special Groups were largest longterm threat to Iraq
2008 Amb Crocker told Congress that if US withdrew from Iraq without
accomplishing constitutional reform Iranians would come out winners
2011 Over 2,000 protested in Baghdad and Fallujah Demanded prisoners be released Some demanded
US forces to leave
2011 Soldiers from 11th Div in civilian clothes arrested protest organizer and held him for a week and
tortured him
2011 KDP and PUK rejected call by opposition to disband govt to meet demands of protesters
(Musings On Iraq interview with journalist Wladimir Van Wilgenburg on 2011 KRG protests)
2011 PM Maliki told Def Sec Gates Iraq did not need US military presence after withdrawal at end of
year Gates was in Iraq to try to convince Maliki and political parties to accept stay behind force of US soldiers
(Musings On Iraq Extension Of U.S. Troop Presence In Iraq Likely To Be Last Minute If At All)
(Musings On Iraq review Duty, Memoirs of a Secretary At War)
(Musings On Iraq review The Endgame, The Inside Story of the Struggle for Iraq, from
George W. Bush to Barack Obama)
2011 Dep PM Shahristani told conference in Paris Iraq may give up 12 mil/bar/day production goal
and focus upon revenues Said production would reach 11.5 mil/bar/day by 2017-18 Didn’t happen
2012 Pres Barzani and Sadr both said PM Maliki becoming an autocrat
(Musings On Iraq The Sadrists’ Double Game: Criticizing Iraq’s Prime Minister, While Supporting Him At The Same Time)
(Musings On Iraq What Does Iraq’s Sadr Want?)
(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Sadrist Back Off Attacks Upon Prime Minister Maliki For Now)
(Musings On Iraq How The No Confidence Move Against Iraq’s Premier Split The Kurdish Parties)
(Musings On Iraq Argument For Maliki Being Iraq’s Next Strongman)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq After America, Strongmen, Sectarians, Resistance)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq From War To A New Authoritarianism)
(Musings On Iraq Is Iraq’s Prime Minister Becoming A Dictator? An Interview With Kirk Sowell Of Inside Iraqi Politics)
(Musings On Iraq Is Iraq’s Prime Minister Maliki More Like Premier Nuri al-Sa’id Than Saddam? An Interview With Historian Phebe Marr)
2012 Report Iraqiya tried to get parties to back no confidence vote against PM Maliki Kurds rejected
idea
2013 ISI released statement that it sent operative Jalwani to Syria to create Jabhat al-Nusra That group
was no longer and would be part of new ISIS
(Musings On Iraq review The Caliphate At War, Operational Realities and Innovations of the Islamic State)
2013 Electricity Min said it would end power problems by Oct 2013 Didn’t happen
(Musings On Iraq Another Hollow Promise By Iraq’s Electricity Ministry, End To Power Shortages By October 2013)
(Musings On Iraq Iraq No Closer To Solving Its Electricity Problems)
(Musings On Iraq More Hollow Promises By Iraq’s Electricity Ministry)
2015 KDP released Haider Sesho Yazidi militia commander on promise that his men would follow
Peshmerga
2017 Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights called on Anbar to stop expelling displaced from Hit
District Got copy of order from Jazeera Ops Cmd to expel people Head of Hit council said there was no money to help displaced Order made to relieve economic stress on district
2021 Sayid al-Shuhada Brigade attacked massage center in Baghdad after owner Tweeted
about brigade commander
View the Iraq History Timelines
This Day In Iraqi History - Apr 7 PM Maliki said he was turning to Asaib Ahl Al-Haq and Kataib Hezbollah to secure Baghdad because disappointed with Iraqi security forces
1915 UK Gen Nixon ordered to prepare attack on Nasiriya and Amara to protect Basra vilayet and
Persian oil concession
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq In World War I, From Ottoman Rule to British Conquest)
(Musings On Iraq review When God Made Hell, The British Invasion of Mesopotamia and the Creation of Iraq, 1914-1921)
1917 Sir Percy Cox wrote UK Foreign Office Said Baghdad and Basra vilayets should be run
similarly instead of 2 separate provinces 1st talk of uniting two under UK rule
(Musings On Iraq review U.S. Policy In Post-Saddam Iraq)
1918 UK artillery and attack drove rebels out of area outside of Najaf city
1921 UK High Commissioner for Iraq Cox met with Sharif of Muhammara in Persia who wanted to
king of Iraq and dissuaded him of idea
1941 PM Gaylani told UK Regent could stay in power Govt would follow Anglo-Iraq Treaty Would
break relations with Italy Would stop calls for Palestinian independence if London recognized his govt UK said no because didn’t believe PM would follow through
1941 UK Mideast cmdr Gen Wavell told War Office military intervention in Iraq not possible and
diplomacy should be used Gen Wavell thought Regent of Iraq could be restored to power by strong statement and show of force by Royal Air Force
(Musings On Iraq review 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 Rashid Ali al-Gailani, The National Movement in Iraq 1939-1941)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq And Syria 1941, The Politics and Strategy of the Second World War)
1972 Soviet PM Kosygin inaugurated Russian company’s production at North Rumaila oil field
Attempt to develop oil outside Iraq Petroleum Company
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq Since 1958, From Revolution To Dictatorship)
1980 Iran withdrew all its diplomatic personnel from Iraq
1980 Iran put military on full alert after accusing Iraq of repeated attacks upon its border area
(Musings On Iraq review The Longest War, The Iran-Iraq Military Conflict)
1980 Chamber of Commerce called 800 wealthy Shiite merchants to Baghdad Were put on bus that
took them to Iranian border to deport them Kicked out for Persian nationality
1988 Start of 3rd Anfal campaign focused upon Germian, Sulaymaniya Civilians in area rounded up
and many executed
(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Anfal Campaign And The Destruction Of The Kurdish Opposition)
1991 Sec State Baker condemned Iraq crimes against its people but said US would not get involved
1991 US began humanitarian airdrops to Kurds
(Musings On Iraq review Kurds of Iraq, Tragedy and Hope)
(Musings On Iraq review The United States And Iraq Since 1990: A Brief History with Documents)
1998 IAEA told UN Iraq not carrying out any prohibited nuclear activities at sites it had visited
(Musings On Iraq UN Inspectors Were Right Iraq Was Not A Threat)
2002 Blair and Bush met Blair pushed going to UN against Iraq Some claimed Blair okayed war with
Iraq at meeting Blair denied that
(Musings On Iraq review A War Of Choice, The British In Iraq 2003-9)
(Musings On Iraq Chilcot Report Section 3.2 Development of UK Iraq Strategy and Options, January to April 2002 – “Axis of Evil” to Crawford)
2002 Bush told TV network he’d decided Saddam must go
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Future The aftermath of regime change)
(Musings On Iraq review Wanting War: Why the Bush Administration Invaded Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq Review The Report of the Iraq Inquiry, Executive Summary)
(Musings On Iraq Review Hubris, The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, And The Selling Of The Iraq War)
(Musings On Iraq review The Bush Administrations and Saddam Hussein, Deciding on Conflict)
(Musings On Iraq review Plan of Attack: The Definitive Account Of The Decision To Invade Iraq)
2003 US 3rd Inf Div conducted 2nd Thunder Run into Baghdad This time stayed in downtown Attacked by Fedayeen Saddam Iraq’s Info Min Mohammed Sahaf denied U.S. forces were in Baghdad
(Musings On Iraq review Voices From Iraq, A People’s History, 2003-2009)
2003 US Marines entered east Baghdad
2003 US got intel Saddam in Mansour Baghdad Carried out air raid that killed 18 civilians
2003 Saddam met with Baath leadership Divided Baghdad into 4 sectors each with a commander They made pledge to fight to the death
2003 British took Basra city
(Musings On Iraq review Burning Horizon, British Veteran Accounts Of The Iraq War 2003)
2003 Ayatollah Haeri named Moqtada al-Sadr his representative in Iraq
(Musings On Iraq A Divided Sadr Trend)
2003 Looting reported in Baghdad
(Musings On Iraq review The Fall Of Baghdad)
2003 NY Times reported 4 drums of possible nerve agents found near Karbala Story proved false
2003 Sec Def Rumsfeld opponents within military leaked details of Rumsfeld micromanaging
invasion plans to Seymour Hersh
2004 Mahdi Army seized control of Kut forcing Ukrainian troops to withdraw Ukrainians refused to
evacuate CPA civilians from city during retreat
(Musings On Iraq US Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 12 Things Fall Apart Apr 2004)
(Musings On Iraq review Revolt On The Tigris, The Al-Sadr Uprising And The Governing Of Iraq)
2004 Mahdi Army attacked Polish patrols in Karbala and fought Spanish troops in Najaf
2004 Sadr claimed he was the military wing of Ayatollah Sistani
2004 Another marine unit arrived to take part in Op Vigilant Resolve 1st Battle of Fallujah
(Musings On Iraq review The Battle for Fallujah, Occupation, Resistance and Stalemate in the War in Iraq)
2004 Insurgents attacked Hawija Kirkuk
2004 PM Blair called White House over his concern about attacks upon civilians during Fallujah Battle
(Musings On Iraq Review The Report of the Iraq Inquiry, Executive Summary)
2004 US intel memo said that Sunni areas were a lost cause Sunnis didn’t see themselves having role
in new Iraq US trying to create
(Musings On Iraq review Insurgency and Counter-Insurgency In Iraq)
2004 US report Iraq earned $10.1 bil by manipulating Oil for Food Program from 1997-2002
2004 Bremer and US cmdr in Iraq Gen Sanchez met with Iraqi Governing Council Hassani
condemned Battle of Fallujah Khufaji called for talks with Sadr Allawi dep Awadi said Sadr needed to be confronted Sumaidaie said had to stand firm
2004 Bremer and Special Envoy Blackwill agreed US goal was to return Iraqi sovereignty not take
Fallujah
(Musings On Iraq review No True Glory, A Frontline Account of the Battle for Fallujah)
2005 Talabani sworn in as Iraq president and named Jaafari as new premier Ended interim govt under
PM Allawi
(Musings On Iraq U.S. Army History of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 16 – Going West, April-August 2005)
2006 3 suicide bombers detonated in Buratha mosque Baghdad Attempted to assassinate ISCI MP
Saghir suspected of running Badr death squads 85 killed 160 wounded
(Musings On Iraq Badr Organization A View Into Iraq’s Violent Past And Present)
(Musings On Iraq review Suicide Bombers In Iraq, The Strategy and Ideology of Martyrdom)
2006 Court papers showed Bush authorized leak of information on Iraq-Niger uranium story to
support administration
2006 Prosecutor claimed Cheney Chief of Staff Libby’s leaks to press were part of campaign to
discredit fmr Amb Wilson over Iraq-Niger story
(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)
2007 Islamic Army said it tried working with ISI but failed Blamed ISI for killing anyone that
didn’t follow it
(Musings On Iraq The Demise But Not Death of Al Qaeda In Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Sunni Insurgency)
(Musings On Iraq review The Caliphate At War, Operational Realities and Innovations of the Islamic State)
2008 Sadr said Mahdi Army would not disarm after demand by PM Maliki and threat to exclude him
from 2009 provincial elections Then said would consider it if Ayatollah Sistani and Iranian clerics suggested it
2008 Iran officially backed PM Maliki’s Charge of Knights Supported Mahdi Army during fighting
and then negotiated ceasefire
2009 Obama flew to Baghdad and met PM Maliki and Pres Talabani Said lots of political progress but
still issues in Iraq
2009 Report Schools falling apart across Iraq Wasit councilman said most money for schools stolen
by officials and contractors Principal in Baghdad said other principals kept money for themselves Education Min said it was Saddam’s fault
2010 Sadrist referendum on who movement wanted as new premier picked Jaafari after national vote
(Musings On Iraq The Sadrists Try To Have Their Say On Iraq’s Next Prime Minister)
2011 Report Oil companies running into problems working in Iraq with political disputes red tape
logistical problems lack of infrastructure
2011 Def Sec Gates met with PM Maliki Dep PM Mutlaq Pres Talabani Pres Barzani to lobby Iraq to
allow US troops to stay in Iraq past Dec withdrawal date
(Musings On Iraq U.S. Steps Up Efforts To Let Troops Stay In Iraq Past Withdrawal Date)
(Musings On Iraq review Duty, Memoirs of a Secretary At War)
(Musings On Iraq review The Endgame, The Inside Story of the Struggle for Iraq, from
George W. Bush to Barack Obama)
2012 Kurdish Alliance said committee put together to work out problems with PM Maliki
2012 Dep PM Shahristani complained about KRG oil contracts saying they were unrealistic
(Musings On Iraq Kurds May Be Fighting Losing Battle With Iraq’s Central Government Over Oil Exports)
2012 Report Integrity Comm member said Basra had wasted $20.6 mil from 09-11
2012 Naqshibandi leader Izzat al-Dhuri statement Called on Iraqis to unite against the Persians that
ran Iraq
2013 Cabinet said it was going to amend Accountability and Justice Law to meet demands of
protesters
2013 PM Maliki said early elections should be considered to solve political stalemate in country
2013 KRG PM Nechirvan Barzani said PM Maliki was violating constitution and consensus politics
with dispute over budget
2013 Report claimed soldiers in army brigade were told to vote for PM Maliki in elections
2013 Report Chilcot Inquiry found UK intel told Blair early 02 Iraq had little WMD and Libya greater
threat Said threat came from Iraqi scientists with know how Found after PM Blair met Bush in Apr 02 decided to join Iraq war He pushed MI6 to find info to justify war Intel officials said Blair wanted stronger argument vs Iraq than WMD MI6 was against war Mar 02 intel report said Iraq couldn’t build a nuclear bomb with sanctions
(Musings On Iraq Review The Report of the Iraq Inquiry, Executive Summary)
2014 PM Maliki told National Alliance he was turning to militias for security because frustrated with
ISF’s performance Got backing for Popular Defense Brigades Made up of Asaib Ahl Al-Haq and Kataib Hezbollah Given control of Baghdad belts
(Musings On Iraq Asaib Ahl Al-Haq From A Breakaway Sadr Militia To Defenders Of Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq Instrument Of Iran’s Power In Iraq And Syria Kataib Hezbollah)
2014 PM Maliki told National Alliance there was a Sunni-Turkish conspiracy against Shiites and Iran
Said Syria was blocking this conspiracy and if Syria fell Iraq would be next
2014 Naqshibandi leader and son killed by ISIS in Hamrin, Diyala ISIS had been kidnapping
Naqshibandi members in Diyala
(Musings On Iraq Infighting Between Iraq Insurgent Groups)
(Musings On Iraq Precarious Relationship Between The Islamic State of Iraq And The Baathist Naqshibandi)
(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Resurgent Insurgency Interview With Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi)
(Musings On Iraq More Reports Of Insurgent In-Fighting In Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review The Caliphate At War, Operational Realities and Innovations of the Islamic State)
2015 Cabinet said Hashd part of ISF and under premier as commander in chief
2015 Report Sunni tribes blamed for some of the looting in Tikrit after city freed
2015 Report MP from Albu Ajeel tribe said looting and burning in Albu Ajeel and Dour Salahaddin
were done out of revenge for Camp Speicher massacre
(Musings On Iraq Divisions Over Iraq War Exposed In Victory In Tikrit)
(Musings On Iraq Human Rights Watch Finds Iraq Government Forces Destroyed Tikrit Area After Its Recapture)
2015 Report 09 Hill new US amb to Iraq Had little knowledge of Mideast and Iraq US Iraq cmdr
Gen Odierno complained Hill did not keep contact with Iraqis Hill told staff meeting he didn’t like Iraq
2015 Report 2010 election PM Maliki came in 2nd Claimed voting fraud Claimed Mujahdeen e-
Khalq tampered with voting computers Got recount Maliki advisor said he needed 2 seats to be biggest list either through recount or deBaathification otherwise PM would be blamed for losing Iraq for Shiites Maliki got Supreme Court to reinterpret constitution so largest bloc could be formed after vote US cmdr Gen Odierno said US shouldn’t pick winners just make sure process followed Odierno didn’t think winner Allawi could put together govt but had right to try Amb Hill said Iraq not ready for democracy and strongman like Maliki needed Iran got Shiite parties to unite behind Maliki US did nothing Iran pushed Syria to drop support for Allawi Used Hezbollah to pressure Sadr Iran backed Talabani as president VP Biden told Maliki US was behind his 2nd term and Allawi had to accept defeat Obama admin wanted new Iraqi govt before US midterm elections and backing Maliki way to do that Allawi’s Iraqiya afraid if Maliki got 2nd term he would go after them and he did charging VP Hashemi and Finance Min Issawi with terrorism
2016 Committee set up to handle cabinet reform said most ruling parties rejected changes
(Musings On Iraq A Review Of Iraq Premier Abadi’s Reform Program Interview With Reidar Visser)
(Musings On Iraq Complaints About Iraq PM Abadi Undermine His Cabinet Reshuffle)
2017 Report Rosneft agreed to pay KRG $1 bil in advance to buy KRG oil from 2017-19 KRG
desperate for cash due to oil and budget dispute with Baghdad Would increase KRG’s debts
(Musings On Iraq Iraqi Kurdistan’s Failed Independent Oil Strategy)
2017 Report IS released video of Ninewa sheikhs giving it allegiance Included Hamadi brother of
Ninewa Governor
2018 People started two days of sit in protests in central Basra over lack of services corruption and
jobs
2018 MP on parliament’s displacement committee said displaced only getting 10% of money meant for them Rest stolen by officials
(Musings On Iraq Corruption In Iraq An Interview With Stuart Bowen Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction)
(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Trouble Fighting Corruption Interview With Vincent Foulk Former US Anti-Graft Official)
2018 Report Turks moved 25km into KRG to fight PKK
2019 Report IS based in Mount Qarachogh in Makhmour dist of Ninewa Charging taxes and
extorting money from locals
(Musings On Iraq Can The Islamic State Make A Comeback In Iraq Part 1? Interview With Washington Institute for Near East Policy’s Michael Knights)
(Musings On Iraq Can The Islamic State Make A Comeback In Iraq Part 2? Interview With Il Foglio’s Daniele Raineri)
(Musings On Iraq The Islamic State’s Failed Comeback In Iraq)
2019 Report Peshmerga said 250 IS members settled in Hamrin Mts Came from Syria
2020 Report Iraq had no plan to deal with financial crisis Earned $2.989 bil in Mar from oil Needed
$9 bil/mo Needed $4 bil/mo for govt salaries/pensions Could cut spending or borrow money Govt borrowed from Central Bank of Iraq’s foreign reserves Asked for $2 bil from World Bank Basra Oil Company asked oil companies to cut budgets by 30% as long as didn’t reduce production Asked to delay paying them for 6 months
(Musings On Iraq Iraq Asks World Bank For Help During Financial Crisis)
2020 Shiite parties met at Badr Amiri’s house Picked intelligence chief Mustafa al-Kazemi
to be next PM candidate
2021 Report Rab Allah that threatened to cut ears off PM Kazemi Part of Kataib Hezbollah Oct
2020 attacked KDP office in Baghdad Nov attacked massage parlors in Baghdad
2021 Report Quds Force Cmdr Gen Qani told Hashd leaders to stop attacks on US in Iraq Wanted to
revive nuclear deal Factions didn’t listen
2021 Joint Ops Command investigation into killing of protesters in Dhi Qar in Feb released 7 police
officers arrested as a result Said regimental commander should be sent to court
(Musings On Iraq UN Report On Violence Against Iraqi Protesters)
(Musings On Iraq United Nations Faults Iraq For Failing To Protect Protesters)
2024 Report Integrity Comm told Central Bank of Iraq that private banks were getting large
loans for investments but instead bought dollars with them and then resold them for a profit
View the Iraq History Timelines
This Day In Iraqi History - Apr 6 Fatwa said Wahabi Ikhwan were brigands Rallied Shiite tribes to fight the invaders
1916 British attacked Sannaiyat by Kut British suffered 1,168 casualties
1919 Iraq political officer Wilson sent Eastern Comm outline of Iraq constitution Included rule by
UK high commissioner 5 provinces run by UK officials with Arab advisors Arab councils would be appointed Arabs could be hired into parts of bureaucracy
(Musings On Iraq review Britain In Iraq, Contriving King and Country)
(Musings On Iraq review Empires of the Sand, The Struggle For Mastery In The Middle East 1789-1923)
(Musings On Iraq review U.S. Policy In Post-Saddam Iraq)
1922 Fatwa said Saudi Wahabi Ikhwan were brigands and people could fight them published in
Iraqi paper
1922 Shiite tribes mostly responded to fatwa against Wahabi Ikhwan Sunni ones thought Baghdad
should deal with Ikhwan
(Musings On Iraq review The Shi’is Of Iraq)
1939 Nuri al-Said became PM 3rd of 9 times
1941 British commander in Iraq asked for military reinforcements from Egypt but turned down
1941 Iraq banned British military from moving from Habaniya base Confiscated radios from British
Military Mission
(Musings On Iraq review 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 Port of Basra protest against Anglo-Iraq Treaty
1961 After talks with Iraq Petroleum Company failed Qasim banned new oil exploration
1963 Iraq Syria Egypt started talks about uniting three countries Nasser blamed Syrian Baath for
failure of United Arab Republic Spent all the meetings attacking them Iraq wasn’t really interested in union
1964 Iraq sent delegation for 2nd round of unity talks with Egypt and Syria Broke down into
arguments between Nasser and Syrian Baathists
1968 Arif govt set up military mission in France Signed deal to buy 54 Mirage jets 46 Alouette
helicopters Was in response to defeat in 1967 Arab-Israeli War and inability to put down Kurdish revolt Iraqi Air Force cancelled deal complaining jets were too expensive and training would take too long
(Musings On Iraq review Iraqi Mirages, The Dassault Mirage Family In Service With The Iraqi Air Force, 1981-1988)
1972 Soviet PM Kosygin visited Baghdad to sign strategic agreement with Bakr govt
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq Since 1958, From Revolution To Dictatorship)
1973 Iraqi Hawker Hunter jets flown to Egypt Would be used in 1973 Arab-Israeli War
(Musings On Iraq Review Hawker Hunters At War, Iraq and Jordan , 1958-1967)
1974 Govt mobilized army reserves in preparation for new campaign against Barzani
1979 Israeli agents sabotaged Osirak nuclear reactor while it was in France waiting to be shipped to
Iraq
1980 Iraqi commandos fired rockets at Iranian oil field prelude to Iran-Iraq War
1984 Iran and Iraq announced end of 4th round of war of cities Iran-Iraq War
1984 Report UK firms sold agents to Iraq to make mustard gas and sarin
(Musings On Iraq Origins Of Iraq’s WMD Programs)
1985 UN Sec Gen deCuellar announced he would go to Baghdad and Tehran to try to negotiate end
to Iran-Iraq War
1987 Iran Op Karbala 8 started in Fish Lake Iraqi defensive line in front of Basra city Only gained 1
mile caused 2600 Iraqi casualties
(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)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 1: The Battle for Khuzestan, September 1980-May 1982)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 2: Iran Strikes back, June 1982-December 1986)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 3: Iraq’s Triumph)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 4: The Forgotten Fronts)
1991 UNHCR est 750,000 Kurds fled to Iran and 280,000 to Turkey and 300,000 on Iraq-Turkey
border Aftermath of 1991 uprising
(Musings On Iraq review Kurds of Iraq, Tragedy and Hope)
1991 Baghdad accepted UN resolution 687 that said Iraq had to recognize Kuwait sovereignty and
destroy WMD and missiles
1996 At conference in New York UN inspectors deducted that Iraq had biological weapons facility
at Hakam, Baghdad
(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 Iraq Info Min Sahaf took journalists to see US tank destroyed in Baghdad Claimed US Thunder Run defeated
2003 US 3rd Inf Div attacked west Baghdad and seized bridges Iraqis counterattacked for
next 60 hrs 82nd Airborne cleared Samawa of Fedayeen Marines crossed Tigris moved on Kut and east Baghdad
(Musings On Iraq review Voices From Iraq, A People’s History, 2003-2009)
2003 Iraq Def Min memo said Iraq was doing great in war Told staff not to exaggerate US capabilities
2003 Saddam met with aides in Baghdad Had Tariq Aziz read a letter Aziz thought it was a goodbye Said Saddam finally realized war was near end
2003 Saddam met with Qusay and Uday Defense Min Chief of Staff of Quds Army Chief of
Staff of Republican Guard Chief of Staff of Fedayeen Saddam Told them Republican Guard needed to withdraw into Baghdad to defend city Guard was already destroyed
2003 British raid into Basra City led to overall attack to take city Looting began
(Musings On Iraq Chilcot Inquiry Section 8: The Invasion)
(Musings On Iraq review Burning Horizon, British Veteran Accounts Of The Iraq War 2003)
2003 US raided Salman Pak Claimed found foreign fighters there proving Iraq was connected to
terrorism Thousands of foreign fighters had come to Iraq to defend against a western invasion Weren’t terrorists
2003 Pentagon told ORHA about replacements for its staff Asked when they would arrive Said
hadn’t informed some of them yet
(Musings On Iraq Special Inspector General For Iraq Reconstruction Hard Lessons Chapter 4 Staging in Kuwait)
2003 Pentagon flew Chalabi and his Free Iraqi Forces into Nasiriya Sec Def Rumsfeld wanted him
flown to Baghdad but Gen Franks said no
2004 CPA Order 71 was to decentralize power to local councils
2004 1/3 of Civil Defense Forces in Baghdad Iraqi police Civil Defense Forces in Fallujah and
police across south all AWOL Cmdr 2nd Iraqi National Guard Battalion fired along with all company commanders for mass desertion and dismissals day before
2004 Marine reinforcements arrived for Op Vigilant Resolve in Fallujah US forces attacked center of
city
(Musings On Iraq review First Fights In Fallujah, Marines During Operation Vigilante Resolve, in Iraq, April 2004)
(Musings On Iraq US Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 12 Things Fall Apart Apr 2004)
2004 Marines on way to Fallujah ambushed in Ramadi 12 killed and 25 wounded Start of insurgent
attack upon city
(Musings On Iraq review The Battle for Fallujah, Occupation, Resistance and Stalemate in the War in Iraq)
2004 Qusaiba Anbar entire police force defected to insurgency Began attacking US forces
2004 Mahdi Army attacked Coalition forces in Amara Nasiriya Kut Karbala Najaf Baghdad
(Musings On Iraq review Revolt On The Tigris, The Al-Sadr Uprising And The Governing Of Iraq)
2004 500 Japanese soldiers in Samawa Muthanna told to halt work and retreat to camp out of fear of
attacks by Mahdi Army
2004 Based upon Gen Taguba’s report US army handed down 6 reprimands and 2 relief of duties over
Abu Ghraib prison scandal
2004 Deputy to Bremer told White House Coalition was winning against Mahdi Army and its defeat
would lead other militias in Iraq to disarm and join the ISF
2004 Joint Sunni-Shiite march in Baghdad’s Adhamiya in support of Sadr and insurgents in Fallujah
2005 Talabani named president of Iraq, Mahdi and Yawar vice presidents in 1st post-03 Iraqi govt
2006 Court documents showed that VP Cheney told aide to leak intelligence on Iraq trying to buy
uranium from Niger to press to discredit Fmr Amb Wilson
(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)
2007 Op Black Eagle US and Polish forces fought Mahdi Army in Diwaniya
2007 Report ISF claimed control of Ghaziliya and Amiriya in Baghdad but not true Ghaziliya
surrounded by ISF for a week Split between Sunni area run by insurgents that imposed Islamic law and Shiite area run by Mahdi Army Khadra Baghdad surrounded by ISF Split between Sunni-Shiite areas ISF didn’t allow young men into district during day At night insurgents had free reign Amiriya under ISI control ISF raided area and claimed it was cleared because arrested few Clashes along border of Amiriya and Abu Saifan run by militias
(Musings On Iraq Columbia University Charts Sectarian Cleansing Of Baghdad)
2008 PM Maliki said Mahdi Army needed to be disbanded if Sadrists wanted to run in 2009
provincial elections
2008 PM Maliki deployed militias to checkpoints in Baghdad to counter Mahdi Army
2008 Green Zone and US base in south Baghdad hit by rockets by Mahdi Army Fighting continued in
Sadr City between Mahdi Army and US forces
(Musings On Iraq review Death of the Mehdi Army, The Rise, Fall, and Revival of Iraq’s Most Powerful Militia)
2008 Report US military believed that Iran had advisers in Basra helping Mahdi Army during Charge
of Knights
(Musings On Iraq Iran’s Policy Towards Iraq)
2008 69 sheikhs signed pact to support govt, rejected violence in effort by PM Maliki to
build up patronage amongst tribes
(Musings On Iraq Argument For Maliki Being Iraq’s Next Strongman)
(Musings On Iraq Disputes Over Tribal Support Councils)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq After America, Strongmen, Sectarians, Resistance)
2008 Fmr UnderSecDef Feith interviewed on 60 Minutes Said US invaded Iraq to prevent next
terrorist attack after 9/11 Claimed Saddam’s record showed he was going to attack the US in the future Denied US invaded because Iraq imminent threat with its WMD Said didn’t think US should have based war on WMD Claimed Def Sec Rumsfeld predicted some of the major problems that would happen in Iraq Admitted US didn’t have enough forces to secure Iraq after invasion Denied he wrote deBaathification plan Claimed Iraq would have been better off if US had given power to INC’s Chalabi after invasion Blamed State CIA and Gen Franks for problems in Iraq
(Musings On Iraq review War and Decision, Inside The Pentagon At The Dawn Of The War On Terrorism)
2009 PM Maliki had police raid 1st meeting of new Diyala council Had warrants for 6 members
accused of supporting insurgency US stopped arrests Came after Maliki’s State of Law not included in new provincial govt
(Musings On Iraq New And Old Provincial Councils in Diyala Embroiled In Controversy)
(Musings On Iraq Old And New Alliances Argue Over Control of Diyala Provincial Council)
(Musings On Iraq New Political Crackdown In Diyala)
2009 Report Gangs running child trafficking rings Police said 15 kids sold a day Said increased since
2005 Corrupt officials filled out paperwork for kids to leave country Many went to Europe and Mideast
2010 7 bombs in Baghdad destroyed 7 buildings and killed 35 over 100 wounded
2010 Dir of Central Organization for Statistics said 25% of Iraqis lived below poverty level
2011 Iraqi Assoc of Defending Journalists accused govt of cracking down on reporters trying to
cover protests
(Musings On Iraq Iraq Is The Most Dangerous Place In The World For Journalists)
2011 Gorran Islamic Union and Islamic Group said they wanted a transitional govt in Kurdistan
2011 Report Insurgents in Mosul ran legitimate businesses Extorted money from govt and businesses
Kidnapped for ransom Contractor said paid 10% of each contract to ISI Govt offices paid money to insurgents ISI charged money on trucking from Syria and Turkey
(Musings On Iraq Analyzing The Finances Of Al Qaeda In Iraq Interview With RAND’s Patrick Johnson)
2011 Report Integrity Comm still looking into purchase of fake bomb detectors Cost $25/ea Iraq paid
$40,000/ea Investigating $200 mil development plan in Sadr City Baghdad mayor said project would provide up to 100,000 jobs and another 50,000 afterward 1st phase was to build 82,000 housing units Commission said money couldn’t be accounted for
(Musings On Iraq Fake Bomb Detectors At Center Of Corruption Case At Iraq’s Interior Ministry)
(Musings On Iraq Possible Corruption In Iraq’s Sadr City Development Project)
(Musings On Iraq Conviction Of Fake Bomb Detector Maker In England Changes Nothing On The Ground in Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq Corruption In Iraq An Interview With Stuart Bowen Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction)
(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Trouble Fighting Corruption Interview With Vincent Foulk Former US Anti-Graft Official)
2011 Labor Min said it would make 50% of foreign companies’ workforce Iraqis 25% unemployment
Unofficially 40%
2012 Proposed national conference to deal with protests and problems with PM Maliki didn’t happen
2012 ISF closed off Tahrir Sq to try to stop protests
2013 Suicide bomber attacked political rally for provincial vote in Baquba killed 22 wounded more
than 50
(Musings On Iraq review Suicide Bombers In Iraq, The Strategy and Ideology of Martyrdom)
2013 Court issued arrest warrant for Finance Min Rafi Issawi on corruption
2014 ISIS governor of Kirkuk and another leader killed fighting Ansar al-Sunna in Kirkuk
(Musings On Iraq More Reports Of Insurgent In-Fighting In Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Resurgent Insurgency Interview With Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi)
(Musings On Iraq Infighting Between Iraq Insurgent Groups)
2014 ISIS closed Fallujah Dam causing flooding
2015 MP said Hashd were looting Tikrit after its liberation
(Musings On Iraq Divisions Over Iraq War Exposed In Victory In Tikrit)
(Musings On Iraq Human Rights Watch Finds Iraq Government Forces Destroyed Tikrit Area After Its Recapture)
2015 PM Abadi said 152 houses and shops burned in Tikrit but didn’t say by who
(Musings On Iraq Review Impossible Victory, How Iraq Defeated ISIS)
2015 3 Yazidi activists fled Kurdistan due to death threats from Kurdish officials Accused KDP
2016 Abadi’s nominee for Finance and Planning Minister Ali Allawi withdrew his name Said no
political consensus over changing cabinet
(Musings On Iraq A Review Of Iraq Premier Abadi’s Reform Program Interview With Reidar Visser)
2016 Ruling parties said they would submit 3 candidates for new ministers to undermine PM Abadi’s
candidates
2016 Supreme Council criticized PM Abadi for trying to determine new cabinet by himself
(Musings On Iraq Complaints About Iraq PM Abadi Undermine His Cabinet Reshuffle)
2016 Hashd spokesman said Fallujah could be freed in 1 week Blamed foreign countries meaning
US and certain politicians of blocking op
2016 Report Sadrists joined protests in Baghdad and took them over Used them to pressure PM
Abadi Communists who were leaders in protests made alliance with Sadr Hoped to use Sadr’s numbers and power to push reforms
(Musings On Iraq Complaints About Iraq PM Abadi Undermine His Cabinet Reshuffle)
(Musings On Iraq interview with Cambridge’s Michael Clark on Sadr, protests and PM Abadi’s reforms)
(Musings On Iraq Candidates For Iraq Cabinet Reshuffle Withdrawing)
(Musings On Iraq Interview Sadr-Communist Alliance And Iraq’s 2018 Elections Interview With Benedict Robin)
2017 Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights obtained army paper Hit Haditha Baghdadi Barwana
in Anbar told not to accept any new displaced from IS areas and told them to return to their homes Was partly due to lack of money and personnel for displaced
2018 Head of Azm district NE Diyala said IS rebuilding along Diyala-Salahadin border
(Musings On Iraq June 2018 Islamic State Rebuilding In Rural Areas Of Central Iraq)
2018 Human Rights Comm said candidates were paying displaced for their votes
2020 Pro-Iran groups fired rockets at oil camp in Basra
2020 Report Saudi-Russian price war led oil prices to drop to $20/barl Iraq could only pay
half its govt workers as a result Employees went from 1.2 mil in 2003 to 4 mil in 2020
2020 Report New Quds Force Cmdr Gen Qani came to Iraq to push Shiite parties to reject
PM candidate Adnan al-Zurfi and pick another Failed Ayatollah Sistani and Sadr refused to meet him 8 pro-Iran Hashd including Asaib Ahl Al-Haq and Al-Haq Hezbollah al-Nujaba issued statement rejecting Zurfi as a CIA candidate
2021 PM Kazemi said he wouldn’t run in 2021 vote Still wanted to be PM
2022 Report Virginia lawyer worked for Nechirvan Barzani Found 300 properties from Virginia to
Dubai owned by Barzani and associates 4 properties bought in Virginia worth $20 mil from trust associated with Barzani’s wife 2 more properties bought for $3 mil from trust for man that worked for Barzani Husband of Barzani’s aunt owned 288 apartments in building in Dubai worth over $100 mil Records showed husband didn’t have enough money to buy that many properties
View the Iraq History Timelines
Apr 5 - This Day In Iraqi History - Faisal II made king Cousin Ilah made Regent
1916 Battle of Sannaiyat by Kut British attacked Ottomans Took Hanna and Fallahiya British had
1,885 casualties
1939 King Faisal II made king Ilah made Regent Asked Nuri al-Said to become PM again for 3rd time
(Musings On Iraq Revolutionary Times, Gen. Qasim And Iraq’s 1958 Coup, Interview With Western Kentucky’s Prof. Juan Romero)
(Musings On Iraq Is Iraq’s Prime Minister Maliki More Like Premier Nuri al-Sa’id Than Saddam? An Interview With Historian Phebe Marr)
(Musings On Iraq review The Chatham House Version and other Middle-Eastern Studies)
(Musings On Iraq review ‘Independent Iraq’ The Monarchy & British Influence, 1941-1958)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Democratic Moment)
1941 UK Amb to Iraq Cornwallis wrote memo advocating for using force against Gaylani govt
1955 UK joined Iraq-Turkey agreement that became anti-Communist Baghdad Pact PM Said didn’t
inform parliament
1965 Arif govt launched military offensive against Kurds
(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)
1980 Saddam gave speech saying conflict with Iran was about Arabs vs Persians and denounced
Khomeini
1980 Funeral of those killed in Mustansiriya bombing hit by a bomb Both done by Islamic Action
Organization Iran again blamed
(Musings On Iraq review The Longest War, The Iran-Iraq Military Conflict)
1984 Reagan issued NSDD 139 that US would help Iraq in Iran-Iraq War
(Musings On Iraq review The Saddam Tapes)
(Musings On Iraq review Spider’s Web, The secret history of how the White House illegally armed Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq Review The Twilight War, The Secret History Of America’s Thirty-Year Conflict With Iran)
1985 Iranian delegation to Soviet Union said that Tehran would only accept complete Iraqi surrender
to end Iran-Iraq War
(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)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 1: The Battle for Khuzestan, September 1980-May 1982)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 2: Iran Strikes back, June 1982-December 1986)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 3: Iraq’s Triumph)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 4: The Forgotten Fronts)
1990 Iraq said it would destroy its WMD if Israel did the same and signed 1968 nuclear non-
proliferation treaty
(Musings On Iraq Why Did Saddam Threaten Israel Before The 1990 Invasion of Kuwait?)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq in Wartime, Soldiering, Martyrdom, and Remembrance)
1990 Saddam told Saudi Amb to US Bandar that his threat to destroy Israel was being
misconstrued Told Bandar to re-assure US and Saudis that Iraq would not attack Israel Wanted US assurance that Israel would not attack Iraq Said that if Israel attacked Iraq people would rise up against him
1990 Hezbollah hijacked Kuwaiti 747 airliner Demanded release of 17 Dawa members responsible for
1983 bombing of US and French embassies in Kuwait Held passengers for 16 days
1991 Saddam declared that Kurdish and Shiite rebellions were crushed following Gulf War
(Musings On Iraq interview with National Univ of Singapore’s Fanar Haddad on the Impact of the 1991 Uprising)
(Musings On Iraq Remembering The 1991 Uprising In Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq Saddam’s View of Iraq’s 1991 Uprising)
(Musings On Iraq When The US Helped Start A Rebellion In Iraq That It Didn’t Want)
1991 Saddam article on 91 uprising Said south Shiites from marshes were isolated backwards
unable to integrate into Iraq Said Kurds were the same Said southern Shiites were criminal deviants If they ever came into power would destroy Iraq
1991 Bush authorized airdrops of supplies to Kurds
1991 UN Resolution 688 condemned Saddam’s repression of its civilian population
1991 Some displaced Kurds began leaving mountains after govt appealed to them while Turkey let
80,000 into country
1992 Iran bombed Mujahadeen e-Khalq base in Iraq
2002 PM Blair gave TV interview saying Saddam needed to go
(Musings On Iraq review A War Of Choice, The British In Iraq 2003-9)
2002 PM Blair and Bush met and talked about using UN inspections to pressure Saddam
(Musings On Iraq Chilcot Report Section 3.2 Development of UK Iraq Strategy and Options, January to April 2002 – “Axis of Evil” to Crawford)
(Musings On Iraq Review The Report of the Iraq Inquiry, Executive Summary)
2003 US 3rd Inf Div launched Thunder Run into Baghdad Immediately ran into trouble when tank knocked out Were other stops as vehicles hit and casualties taken Afterward unit did not want to go back into Baghdad
(Musings On Iraq Review Cobra II, The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review Voices From Iraq, A People’s History, 2003-2009)
2003 Republican Guard Hammurabi Adnan Baghdad div and special Forces and Special Republican Guard attacked Baghdad Airport Suffered heavy losses Defeat led to mass desertions
2003 US air strike in Basra attempted to kill Chemical Ali Missed Killed 17 civilians Most in Basra
believed Ali died
2003 National Intel Comm memo said docs claiming Iraq-Niger uranium purchase were fakes and
2002 report on deal was not credible
(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)
2003 Sec State Powell said he was sure Iraq’s WMD would be found
(Musings On Iraq Iraq One Of The Worst Intelligence Failures In US History)
(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)
2003 DIA task force said Baathists made plans for an insurgency with help of jihadists Would later
prove false
(Musings On Iraq Did Saddam Plan The Insurgency In Iraq?)
(Musings On Iraq review The U.S. Army In The Iraq War: Volume 1, Invasion, Insurgency, Civil
War, 2003-2006)
2004 Marines tried to cordon off as much of Fallujah as possible at start of Op Vigilant Resolve
(Musings On Iraq US Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 12 Things Fall Apart Apr 2004)
(Musings On Iraq review Fighting for Fallujah, a New Dawn for Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review First Fights In Fallujah, Marines During Operation Vigilante Resolve, in Iraq, April 2004)
(Musings On Iraq review No True Glory, A Frontline Account of the Battle for Fallujah)
2004 2nd Iraqi National Guard Battalion sent to Fallujah Attacked in traffic on trip there 28 deserted
When got to base more said they refused to fight and dismissed Total 106 of 695 soldiers deserted and 104 dismissed
(Musings On Iraq review The Battle for Fallujah, Occupation, Resistance and Stalemate in the War in Iraq)
2004 Mahdi Army occupied Basra governor’s office Seized 2 bridges in Nasiriya Attack closed CPA
office in Wasit Attack in Najaf killed 20 Iraqis 4 Salvadoran soldiers 7 US soldiers killed in Sadr City gun fight with Sadrists Health Dir in Maysan said UK soldiers killed 12 when fired into Sadr crowd
2004 Spanish cmdr Gen Coll started talks with Sadr Appointed Badr commander governor of Najaf
Bremer ordered stop to Coll’s moves
2004 Bremer called Sadr an outlaw and promised to put down his revolt
(Musings On Iraq review Squandered Victory, The American Occupation And the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq)
2004 CPA announced Iraqi judge issued arrest warrant for Sadr for murder of Khoei
2004 CPA official Kosnett Spanish cmdr Gen Coll Multi-national division cmdr Gen Bieniek pushed
for political solution to Sadr uprising
2004 Bremer met with Iraqi Governing Council It did not want to confront Sadr Justice Min wanted
to give concessions Def Min Allawi wanted to fight insurgents and leave Sadr alone Some said Sadr just wanted positions in govt but Bremer opposed
2004 Zarqawi recording released calling for more attacks upon US led Coalition and Shiites
(Musings On Iraq The Rise And Rebirth Of The Islamic State Interview With Author Michael Weiss)
(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 Bremer referred INC officials to criminal court for illegally recycling old dinars that were
supposed to be destroyed Attempting to obtain state property via Finance Min and sell it Kidnapping and attacking rivals
(Musings On Iraq Corruption In Iraq An Interview With Stuart Bowen Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction)
(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Trouble Fighting Corruption Interview With Vincent Foulk Former US Anti-Graft Official)
2004 CPA told UK it had to deal with Mahdi Army attacks in south on its own since US
concentrating on 1st Battle of Fallujah Bremer told UK commander in south to retake Basra governor’s office Ignored order because didn’t have enough troops Tried to negotiate with Sadrists which worked
2006 Iraqi parties chose Maliki to be new PM over keeping PM Jaafari
2007 Islamic Army condemned ISI for imposing Islamic law and attacking other insurgent groups
Also attacking civilians and stealing women Forced women to cover themselves Banned satellite TV
(Musings On Iraq The Demise But Not Death of Al Qaeda In Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Sunni Insurgency)
(Musings On Iraq review The Caliphate At War, Operational Realities and Innovations of the Islamic State)
(Musings On Iraq Review What Kind of Liberation? Women and the Occupation of Iraq)
2007 Al Qaeda told Ansar al-Sunna that its complaints about ISI were unbelievable and it was still
under Al Qaeda’s leadership
2007 Pentagon Insp Gen report on fmr Dep Undersec of Def Feith’s Counterterrorism Task Force
Claimed active Iraq-Al Qaeda ties CIA and DIA found none Insp Gen said Feith’s work inappropriate Said postwar interviews found no Iraq-Al Qaeda relationship
(Musings On Iraq review Leap of Faith, Hubris Negligence, and America’s Greatest Foreign Policy
Tragedy)
(Musings On Iraq Overview of America’s Policy Towards Iraq: From The Clinton Years To The
Sectarian War of 2006)
2008 Meeting of ruling parties decided to back PM Maliki in Charge of Knights and
criticized Sadr Ended no confidence move against PM
(Musings on Iraq US Army In The Iraq War Volume 2 Chapter 8 Crescendo: Maliki Against The Sadrists)
2008 PM Maliki called on all political parties to disband their militias or they might get banned from
politics
2008 ISF and US forces cordoned off Sadr City as fighting continued between Mahdi Army and US
(Musings On Iraq review Death of the Mehdi Army, The Rise, Fall, and Revival of Iraq’s Most Powerful Militia)
2008 Iran’s Gen Suleimani met Pres Talabani and promised to stop arming militias Said Sadr was
uncontrollable Iran had armed Mahdi Army throughout Charge of Knights
(Musings On Iraq Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ Commander General Suleimani And His Role In Iraq, An Interview With The New Yorker’s Dexter Filkins)
2008 British sent military trainers to Basra to help ISF during Charge of Knights op against Mahdi
Army
2008 Fmr Under Sec of Def Doug Feith claimed US invasion of Iraq prevented next terrorist attack
on US
2009 Basra Gov Waeli escaped IED probably done by Special Groups or Mahdi Army
2010 World Bank gave $250 mil loan to Iraq to help with budget
2010 UNAMI held meeting between Hadbaa and Kurdish Alliance in Ninewa to try to repair relations
(Musings On Iraq Tit For Tat In Ninewa)
(Musings On Iraq Arab-Kurdish Divide Over New Ninewa Provincial Council)
2011 Speaker Nujafi said parliament would work with provinces to deal with detainees in response to
protests
2011 PM Maliki said ministries could reform in 100 days to respond to protests Didn’t happen
2011 Govt talks with 5 insurgent groups broke down
2011 Islamic Union and Islamic Group in KRG called for govt to step down and interim one formed
to carry out reforms due to protests
(Musings On Iraq interview with journalist Wladimir Van Wilgenburg on 2011 KRG protests)
2012 Report US Amb Jeffrey met with PM Maliki 9 times since start of year to try to mediate
Baghdad vs Irbil argument
2012 New KRG cabinet under Premier Nechirvan Barzani sworn in Opposition boycotted ceremony
2012 Pres Barzani said Iraq could become a dictatorship again due to PM Maliki
(Musings On Iraq How The No Confidence Move Against Iraq’s Premier Split The Kurdish Parties)
(Musings On Iraq Argument For Maliki Being Iraq’s Next Strongman)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq After America, Strongmen, Sectarians, Resistance)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq From War To A New Authoritarianism)
(Musings On Iraq Is Iraq’s Prime Minister Becoming A Dictator? An Interview With Kirk Sowell Of Inside Iraqi Politics)
(Musings On Iraq Is Iraq’s Prime Minister Maliki More Like Premier Nuri al-Sa’id Than Saddam? An Interview With Historian Phebe Marr)
2012 Report Shell was considered signing oil deal with KRG but backed out after decided to focus on
Basra Major oil companies more interested in KRG due to problems with Baghdad including red tape infrastructure bottlenecks
(Musings On Iraq Will Shell Take The Leap Into Iraq’s Kurdistan?)
2013 Iran delivered bodies of Iraqi militiamen killed fighting for it in Syria
(Musings On Iraq The Increasing Flow Of Iraqi Fighters To Syria, An Interview With University Of Maryland’s Phillip Smyth)
2013 National Alliance delegation went to KRG to try to end Kurds boycott of govt over budget
(Musings On Iraq What’s To Gain From the Kurdish Alliance’s Boycott Of Iraq’s Government?)
2013 PM Maliki said he was open to better ties with Turkey which US had been pushing
2013 Iraq threatened legal action against Turkey for oil deals with Kurdistan
2013 1st shipment of Kurdish oil sold on international market
2013 PM Maliki said he would form a majority govt and not follow sectarian quotas anymore
(Musings On Iraq Interview A Look At Iraq’s 2014 Election Interview With Reidar Visser)
2014 25 families fled Jurf al-Sakhr, Babil as ISIS moved into area from Anbar
(Musings On Iraq Deteriorating Security In Northern Babil Province Iraq)
2014 Sadrists began campaign for national elections calling for majority govt and end to sectarian
quotas
2015 Tribes claimed 400 buildings burned in Tikrit after liberation Human Rights Watch found
evidence of 75 houses destroyed in Qadisiya neighborhood of Tikrit since it was freed
(Musings On Iraq Divisions Over Iraq War Exposed In Victory In Tikrit)
(Musings On Iraq Human Rights Watch Finds Iraq Government Forces Destroyed Tikrit Area After Its Recapture)
2015 Iraqi military spokesman said some Hashd took part in looting in Tikrit Said they were
undermining the victory
2015 Speaker Jabouri said there was looting in Tikrit Sadr called for end of looting in Tikrit
2015 KDP arrested Haider Sesho in Sinjar for forming his own militia and siding with Baghdad
2015 President and VPs said that tribes in Anbar and Ninewa should be armed to fight IS
2016 Supreme Council said Abadi’s technocratic cabinet was not serious move
(Musings On Iraq A Review Of Iraq Premier Abadi’s Reform Program Interview With Reidar Visser)
(Musings On Iraq Complaints About Iraq PM Abadi Undermine His Cabinet Reshuffle)
2016 Sadrists complained ruling parties not supporting reforms even though public had called for them
via protests
(Musings On Iraq interview with Cambridge’s Michael Clark on Sadr, protests and PM Abadi’s reforms)
2016 Report Kurdish official said security deteriorating in Tuz Kharmato due to Turkmen Hashd
killings and kidnappings
2017 Iraqi air force dropped leaflets over west Mosul again telling civilians to stay in their homes
during battle to free city
(Musings On Iraq Mosul Campaign Day 170-171, Apr 4-5, 2017)
2017 Head of Ninewa Ops Command said Iraqis using fewer airstrikes in west Mosul due to civilian
casualties
2017 Civil Defense officer said 278 bodies had been taken from building hit by US air strike in west
Mosul Spokesman for Golden Div said only 61 bodies had been recovered Defense Min claimed air strike not responsible
(Musings On Iraq Mosul Campaign Day 172-173, Apr 6-7, 2017)
2017 Report Hashd loyal to Ayatollah Sistani told to do social work Removing mines leftover from Iran-Iraq War tutoring students rebuilding schools Helped rebuild Tikrit Univ Hashd leader Abu Muhandis tried to cut off pay to 1 of them Al Abbas Div for not following his orders
2018 Comm to Protect Journalists said 15 reporters assaulted 7 arrested for covering protests in KRG
2018 Pres Masum asked Turkey to withdrew its forces from Iraq Didn’t happen
2020 Report Nov 2018 US sanctioned Mohammed Abd al-Hadi Farhat of Lebanon Accused
of advising Hashd for Hezbollah Worked with Iranian Rev Guards Involved in money laundering for Iran in Iraq
2020 Female activist assassinated insider her house in Dhi Qar Came after 2 days of clashes
between protests and ISF that killed 3 protesters
(Musings On Iraq UN Report On Violence Against Iraqi Protesters)
(Musings On Iraq United Nations Faults Iraq For Failing To Protect Protesters)
View the Iraq History Timelines
Del Wilber, In The Shadow Of The Swords, The Baghdad Police Academy, Casemate, 2020
Wilber, Del, In The Shadow Of The Swords, The Baghdad Police Academy, Casemate, 2020
In The Shadow Of The Swords by D.W. Wilber might be one of the only 1st hand accounts about the Americans’ attempt to rebuild the Iraqi police. Wilber was a former St. Louis police officer who volunteered to be a trainer. It’s a very interesting read even though less than half of it is about the actual police academy. It points out some of the major flaws with the strategy.
The majority of Wilber’s story is about his time dealing with other Americans working on Iraq. He went to Virginia for orientation which he found frustrating as he was told literally nothing about what Iraq would be like. When he finally arrived in Baghdad in 2005 it was in between cadet classes so he and the other new trainers had nothing to do for 2 weeks. They spent the time establishing relationships and trying to navigate through the supply situation on the military base they were at such as finding enough toilet paper. There are some good tales and it establishes what the environment was like at the police academy.
The best parts of In The Shadows Of The Swords are about all the flaws with the training program. For one Wilber thought some of his colleagues were not qualified for the job. One was an investigator at a prison. Another was a former cop who was working at Home Depot before going to Iraq. A fourth was a teacher with no law enforcement experience and there was fifth that was a former prison guard. On the first day of training one of those individuals got overwhelmed by the complaints of their new cadets and pulled their gun on them. The author didn’t think any of them had the background to train Iraqi police. The problem was the Bush administration was desperate to fill positions and accepted almost anyone.
Second there was little oversight of this huge multi-million dollar program. A company was given the job to train Iraqis to become trainers themselves so that they could eventually run the police academy on their own. None of those Americans were on their job. This was part of a general trend of neglect by the administration to keep track of personnel and making sure they were doing what they were supposed to do.
Another issue was that there was only 4 hours of instruction per day for the Iraqis for 6 weeks. The fact that the Americans had to go through interpreters slowed this process down tremendously. Wilbur thought 6 weeks was nowhere near enough time and believed a lot of the Iraqis were just being made into cannon fodder to be put out on the streets and be attacked by insurgents.
Finally, the author thought this was all due to American leadership that just wanted as many police on the job as possible regardless of their quality. Studies of the U.S. training program found the same fatal flaws for the first years of the occupation of Iraq.
Wilber gives a very human story about his experience as a trainer in Iraq. There’s plenty on his comrades and even though the actual program is only a small part of the book there’s a lot of very good criticism made which is supported by research. The U.S. disbanded the Iraqi military and police and then scrambled to rebuild them from scratch with no real strategy. It just wanted as many police and soldiers on duty as possible and that was the only real metric that counted. The fact that most of these Iraqis ended up failing or getting killed didn’t even seem to matter. It would take years for the Americans to realize they had made these strategic mistakes and some of them were never rectified.
Link to all of Musings On Iraq’s book reviews listed by topic
This Day In Iraqi History - Apr 4 King Ghazi’s death announced to public Queen Aliya said it was Ghazi’s wish that his cousin Ilah be made regent
1927 UK official wrote Foreign Sec Chamberlain saying UK got Mosul by trick Promised 25 yr Iraq
Mandate Now pushing Iraq independence
1939 King Ghazi’s death publicly announced PM Said resigned Queen Aliya and Princess Ragiha
issued statement that it was Ghazi’s dying wish that Ilah be made regent
1939 Mob in Mosul attacked UK consulate claiming it was behind King Ghazi’s death
1941 UK called new Gaylani govt illegal and distributed copies of message by Regent to resist
1941 Ultra intel in UK intercepted message from Italian amb in Tehran that Rome and Berlin were
going to send arms to Iraq via Syria
1941 UK Chiefs of Staff asked Middle East cmdr Gen Wavell how many troops he could spare for
Iraq
(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s First Battle Of Fallujah 1941)
(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)
(Musings On Iraq review Blood, Oil and the Axis: The Allied Resistance Against A Fascist State In Iraq and the Levant, 1941)
(Musings On Iraq review The Role of the Military In Politics, A case study of Iraq to 1941)
1948 Port of Basra strike against Anglo-Iraq Treaty
1955 UK signed agreement to replace 1930 Anglo-Iraq Treaty Iraq got control of Habaniya and
Shaiba air bases UK would come to aid of Iraq in time of war and continue arming Iraqi army
1959 Qasim govt approved United Democratic Party of Kurdistan publishing a newspaper
1980 Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Sadr arrested in Najaf by Saddam
(Musings On Iraq review Muqtada, Muqtada Al-Sadr, The Shia Revival, And The Struggle For Iraq)
1981 Iran bombed Iraq’s H3 airbase in Anbar Destroyed 23 planes and 4 helicopters 15 other
planes damaged 6 senior Iraqi officers were executed after raid Iranians flew through Turkey and Syria Damascus provided reconnaissance and refueling for Iranians
1981 Iran said it wouldn’t negotiate a ceasefire with Saddam
1981 Head of US Interests Section in Iraq said that US and Iraq were growing closer
(Musings On Iraq Review The Twilight War, The Secret History Of America’s Thirty-Year Conflict With Iran)
1983 Iraq offered 1 day ceasefire in order to clean up oil spill Iran rejected offer
1985 Iran’s Speaker Rafsanjani said Iran would take Basra and Baghdad after victory in Faw
(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)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 1: The Battle for Khuzestan, September 1980-May 1982)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 2: Iran Strikes back, June 1982-December 1986)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 3: Iraq’s Triumph)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 4: The Forgotten Fronts)
1990 Report Iraq working on nuclear bomb Imported equipment from western companies 1984 ex-
Italian intel officers indicted for trying to sell plutonium and yellowcake to Iraq 1987 France offered to rebuild Osirak nuclear reactor 1985-88 Iraq might have built isotope plant Saudis said to be funding program
1991 Report Pres Bush gave CIA okay to support opposition in Iraq Led to creation of Voice of Free
Iraq radio station run by Saudis during Gulf War Didn’t allow support for 91 uprising
(Musings On Iraq When The US Helped Start A Rebellion In Iraq That It Didn’t Want)
(Musings On Iraq review Out Of The Ashes, The Resurrection of Saddam Hussein)
1991 Britain offered $37 mil in humanitarian aid to Kurds
1991 Turkey said it couldn’t support Kurdish refugees flowing into country so shut border 10,000
crossed into Turkey 80,000 held at border
(Musings On Iraq review Kurds of Iraq, Tragedy and Hope)
2002 UK intel officials claimed that PM Blair decided that WMD and Saddam were not good
argument for going to war in Iraq
2003 3rd Inf Div captured Saddam International Airport in Baghdad Fedayeen counterattack turned
back Took 3 days to clear airport Saddam finally accepted US would attack Baghdad
(Musings On Iraq review Voices From Iraq, A People’s History, 2003-2009)
2003 US forces sent to southern Baghdad to destroy Republican Guard units but they
fled instead of fighting 101st Airborne and 3rd Inf Divs cleared Najaf City
2003 Iraqi defenders in Baghdad down to Fadayeen Saddam and foreign fighters who
couldn’t stop Americans
2003 British army started assault upon Basra city hitting Baath offices
(Musings On Iraq review Burning Horizon, British Veteran Accounts Of The Iraq War 2003)
2003 Saddam appeared on Iraqi TV touring Baghdad neighborhood
2003 Information Minister Sahaf finally admitted US forces were in Baghdad at airport
2003 US forces hit by female suicide car bomb at Haditha Dam Women made video beforehand aired on Al Jazeera
(Musings On Iraq review Suicide Bombers In Iraq, The Strategy and Ideology of Martyrdom)
2003 PM Blair sent letter to Iraqi people saying Saddam would fall and Coalition would not be in Iraq
longer than necessary
2003 Power surge knocked out most of the electricity in Baghdad Would be out for weeks after war
over
(Musings On Iraq Special Inspector General For Iraq Reconstruction’s Hard Lessons Chapter
14 Rebuilding the Electricity Sector)
2003 Video conference with Sec Def Rumsfeld and military in Iraq Rumsfeld said he was working
on getting Iraqi police back on duty Asked foreign police to help Under Sec Def for Policy Feith asked if most police were linked to Baath and therefore shouldn’t be brought back to duy Military said didn’t know
2003 Natl Sec Adv Rice said US wanted a democratic Iraq with no WMD that would not be threat to
neighbors
(Musings On Iraq review Overreach, Delusions of Regime Change In Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review America at the Crossroads, Democracy, Power, and the Neoconservative Legacy)
(Musings On Iraq review The Road to Iraq, The Making of a Neoconservative War)
(Musings On Iraq review Wanting War: Why the Bush Administration Invaded Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review Leap of Faith, Hubris Negligence, and America’s Greatest Foreign Policy
Tragedy)
(Musings On Iraq review The Assassins’ Gate, America In Iraq)
2004 Sadrists rose up in Baghdad Najaf Kut Karbala Kufa Nasiriya Amara against US Ambushed US
patrol in Sadr City killing 8 Americans
(Musings On Iraq review Battle For The City Of The Dead)
(Musings On Iraq review Revolt On The Tigris, The Al-Sadr Uprising And The Governing Of Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq A Divided Sadr Trend)
(Musings On Iraq US Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 12 Things Fall Apart Apr 2004)
2004 80% of one Iraqi National Guard battalion and 70% of another deserted in Baghdad in 1st day of
fighting Mahdi Army
2004 40% of police in Najaf and Kut fled when Sadrists rose up in 2 cities
2004 Mahdi Army attacked Najaf Left 200 Iraqi casualties Spanish unit refused to fight and cmdr
tried to negotiate with Sadr
2004 Polish battalion held Karbala city hall but rest of city fell to Mahdi Army
2004 Italian governor of Dhi Qar made deal with Mahdi Army for Spanish to stay in base while militia
took Nasiriyah CPA told governor she was contradicting orders to confront Sadr
2004 CPA created Ministerial Committee for National Security in Iraqi govt
2004 Operation Vigilant Resolve launched by Marines starting 1st Battle of Fallujah
(Musings On Iraq US Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 12 Things Fall Apart Apr 2004)
(Musings On Iraq review The Battle for Fallujah, Occupation, Resistance and Stalemate in the War in Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review Fighting for Fallujah, a New Dawn for Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review First Fights In Fallujah, Marines During Operation Vigilante Resolve, in Iraq, April 2004)
(Musings On Iraq review No True Glory, A Frontline Account of the Battle for Fallujah)
2005 Outgoing Inter Min Naqib warned US if SCIRI got Inter Min would fill it with Badr militiamen
which it did
(Musings On Iraq Badr Organization A View Into Iraq’s Violent Past And Present)
(Musings On Iraq From Bad To Worse How Military Moved Into The Iraqi Police Force And The United States Failed At Nation Building Part Two Of An Interview With Jerry Burke Former Advisor To The Baghdad Police And Interior Ministry)
2006 Report Inter Min refused to deploy any police trained by US-UK mission in last 3 months
because didn’t control recruits
2007 Report US arrested Sadrist Dep Health Min Zamili in Feb Accused of taking kickbacks for
orders with money funneled to Sadrists 15 warrants for ministers for corruption not served MP Jabouri in hiding accused of stealing $7 mil for pipeline security force he created Allawi Def Min Shaalan facing $1 bil in corruption charges
(Musings On Iraq Corruption In Iraq An Interview With Stuart Bowen Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction)
(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Trouble Fighting Corruption Interview With Vincent Foulk Former US Anti-Graft Official)
2008 PM Maliki said he would stop raids against Sadrists Said he didn’t negotiate ceasefire with Sadr
but Iran did
2008 PM Maliki said he would recruit 10,000 local tribesmen into security forces in Basra
after Charge of Knights
2008 Report PM Maliki integrated 10,000 Dawa and Badr members into army
2008 Report 30% of soldiers went AWOL during Charge of Knights in Basra Mahdi Army was
supplied by Iran during fight
2008 Report National Intel Estimate said that Surge decreased violence but security fragile Insurgents
still capable of large attacks Slow progress towards reconciliation
(Musings On Iraq review Surge, My Journey with General David Petraeus and the Remaking of the Iraq War)
(Musings On Iraq Inside The Surge An Interview With Prof Peter Mansoor Former Executive Officer To Gen Petraeus)
(Musings On Iraq Reassessing The US Surge, And Recognizing Iraqi Agency In Ending The 2005-2008 Civil War In Iraq An Interview With New America Foundation’s Douglas Ollivant)
2008 Pres Talabani banned PUK members from criticizing govt in media or could be expelled Came
after PUK accused of corruption and power struggles
(Musings On Iraq Corruption and Reporting in Kurdistan)
2009 PM Maliki said that Baathists and ISI had infiltrated Sahwa
2009 Sahwa leader in Baghdad said govt was out to destroy Sahwa Another leader in Muqdadiya
Diyala arrested 3rd leader said 500 of his 1,000 men fired and no sign others would get govt jobs
(Musings On Iraq Sons of Iraq Integration Update)
2009 Sheikh Abu Risha said he would run with Maliki’s State of Law in provincial elections
(Musings On Iraq Anbar’s Forgotten Sheikh)
(Musings On Iraq Anbar Sheikhs Reach Out To Shiites)
2009 Report 2005-07 40% of development funds in Iraq given to insurgents as protection money
2010 3 car bombs on Iranian Egyptian and German Embassies in Baghdad killed 41 Another bomb
defused outside French embassy
2010 Housing Ministry claimed housing crisis in Iraq would be solved by 2014 through foreign
investment Didn’t happen
2010 Transportation Min laid corner stone of Greater Faw Terminal Project Was supposed to be
finished in 4-5 yrs Only breakwater built Rest never completed
2011 Baghdad Operations Command accused Harith al-Dhari head of Muslim Scholars Association of
assassinations in Baghdad
(Musings On Iraq Spiritual Leader To Iraq’s Insurgency Harith Dhari Dies In Exile)
2011 Day of Dignity protests in Baghdad
2011 Opposition parties walked out of KRG parliament when Peshmerga and Interior ministers
refused to appear for questioning over treatment of Sulaymaniya protests
2011 Sulaymaniya protesters called on KRG government to resign Accused KRG of injustice wasting
money lack of rule of law
(Musings On Iraq interview with journalist Wladimir Van Wilgenburg on 2011 KRG protests)
2012 Dep PM Shahristani told Kirkuk governor had to stop oil smuggling to KRG
2012 State of Law MP accused Kurds of trying to prevent army from buying new equipment
2012 PM Maliki sent envoy to try to improve ties with Turkey but failed
2012 Report KRG Natural Resource Min Hawrami admitted that KRG smuggling oil to Iran Said
KRG wanted to build its own oil pipeline to Turkey
(Musings On Iraq Iraqi Kurdistan’s Failed Independent Oil Strategy)
2012 Report Saudi papers said there should be sanctions on Iraq to stop PM Maliki from becoming
new Saddam Said Maliki standing with Assad showed that he couldn’t be trusted Said Maliki was an Iranian puppet
(Musings On Iraq review A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy, The Saudi Struggle For Iraq)
2013 Turkey said it was willing to split payments of oil exports between Baghdad and Irbil Would
mean Turkey would handle finances for northern pipeline
2013 Report Protests for over 100 days PM Maliki didn’t trust protests Said they had legitimate
demands but were terrorists amongst them State of Law MP said ISI tried to manipulate protests to get them to join insurgency Different protest sites had different ideas Some called for Anbar to become region Others against
(Musings On Iraq Understanding Iraq’s Protest Movements, An Interview With Kirk Sowell, Editor of Inside Iraqi Politics)
(Musings On Iraq Explaining The Political Factors Behind The Increasing Violence In Iraq, An Interview With maria Fantappie Iraq Researcher At The International Crisis Group)
2015 Great Tikrit Mosque set on fire after city freed Tribes demanded Hashd withdraw from area
(Musings On Iraq Divisions Over Iraq War Exposed In Victory In Tikrit)
(Musings On Iraq Human Rights Watch Finds Iraq Government Forces Destroyed Tikrit Area After Its Recapture)
2015 ISF set up checkpoints to try to stop looting and burning of homes in Tikrit Hashd said to be
leaving city
2016 Kurdish Alliance said it would not vote on any ministers it didn’t nominate
(Musings On Iraq A Review Of Iraq Premier Abadi’s Reform Program Interview With Reidar Visser)
(Musings On Iraq Complaints About Iraq PM Abadi Undermine His Cabinet Reshuffle)
2016 Salah al-Mutlaq told PM Abadi changing ministers would not lead to real reforms Said other
grades of officials had to be included Parties controlled all the top officials in ministries meaning their control would not be changed if minister removed
2016 Allawi said if new govt was to be nonpartisan than PM Abadi had to resign too along with his
cabinet
2016 Iran cut off electricity supply to district in Sulaymaniya after KRG failed to pay $27 mil loan
to Tehran
2017 Kirkuk council called for referendum to integrate province into KRG
(Musings On Iraq review The Great Betrayal, How America Abandoned The Kurds And Lost The Middle East)
2017 IS spokesman Abu Hussan released audio tape calling Trump an idiot who didn’t know what
Syria Iraq or Islam was
2018 Pres Masum filed lawsuit over 2018 budget saying it violated the constitution
2018 Report on IS Docs When took Mosul threatened govt workers to return to work Set up tax system that earned more than oil revenues Business and agriculture mostly taxed Seized land belonging to Shiites Christians Yazidis in conquered territories and sold it to farmers and followers Set up sharecropping for farmers who couldn’t pay for land
2018 Report Turkey building 8-12 new bases in Irbil to fight PKK
(Musings On Iraq review Turkey, the US and Iraq)
2019 Report State Dept said Iran killed 608 US troops in Iraq from 2003-11 Provided militias
with weapons and training Planned attacks upon US forces
(Musings On Iraq A History Of Iranian Weapons Shipments To Iraq Interview With Arkenstone Blog’s Galen Wright)
(Musings On Iraq Iran’s Policy Towards Iraq)
2019 Saudis opened consulate in Baghdad 1st in 30 yrs Talked about investing in Iraq
2020 Badr claimed that US anti-missile defense emplaced to counter pro-Iran group rocket
attacks might be used to shoot at Iraqi planes
2020 Report 8 pro-Iran Hashd said US not withdrawing just consolidating in Iraq Said Kataib
Hezbollah not only faction that opposed US Claimed they worked for the clergy the Iraqi people and protesters
(Musings On Iraq Instrument Of Iran’s Power In Iraq And Syria Kataib Hezbollah)
2020 Continued clashes between protesters and police in Nasiriya Threw gas bombs at police
Police shot at protesters 3 killed 22 wounded Curfew afterward March was called for aid to poor during COVID
(Musings On Iraq UN Report On Violence Against Iraqi Protesters)
(Musings On Iraq United Nations Faults Iraq For Failing To Protect Protesters)
2021 Gunmen shot at home of activist in Babil
2021 Report provincial budgets KRG 10.9 tril dinars Dhi Qar 1.3 tril dinars Babil 1.1 tril dinars
Diyala 867 bil dinars Najaf 757 bil dinars Diwaniya 732 bil dinars Karbala 704 bil dinars Wasit 653 bil dinars Maysan 478 bil dinars Muthanna 376 bil dinars Ninewa 124 bil dinars Anbar 95 bil dinars Salahaddin 68 bil dinars Budgets used to be based upon populations now politics with Sunni provinces getting least amount of money
(Musings On Iraq Iraq Dumps Economics Reform And Fiscal Responsibility With 2021 Budget)
2022 Mass grave found in Najaf Dated from 1991 uprising
2024 Report Due to disputes with Baghdad over budget KRG only paid its govt workers 9 out of
12 times in 2023 Only 1 out of 3 times in 2024
View the Iraq History Timelines
Sadr Won’t Participate In Iraq’s Upcoming Elections
After much speculation Moqtada al-Sadr announced that he would not take part in this year’s parliamentary elections. This is good news for the ruling Coordination Framework because it doesn’t have to worry about its biggest rival. On the other hand it will be a hit for the country’s political system as it will likely result in the lowest voter turnout since 2003.
On March 28 Sadr said that he would not participate in the upcoming vote for the National Assembly citing corruption in the political process. This ended months of speculation about what he would do and whether any of the other Shiite leaders could form a coalition with him.
This will have two impacts. First, as Sadr has the largest movement in the country his boycott will likely lead to the lowest voter turnout since elections re-started in 2005. In 2021 the Election Commission actually changed how it calculated that number and claimed that 41% of voters participated when in fact it was likely 36%. That was the smallest figure so far and will likely be surpassed in 2025. Sadr might be thinking that his absence will further undermine the standing of politicians so that he might take advantage of that discontent in the future. Second, this will assure the current ruling parties will maintain their hold upon the government although not in their current form. The Coordination Framework that formed the Sudani administration will run separately this year. Premier Sudani will form his own list and compete with former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki for the top position. This continues the trend of intra-Shiite rivalries that started in 2010 when Maliki ran alone believing he would win a majority but failed to do so. After the voting however all the parties come back together to divvy up government positions so that they might control and steal from the state.
SOURCES
Al Aalem, “After Sadr’s boycott turnout drops and warnings of popular unrest,” 3/29/25
- “Al-Aalem Al-Jadeed reveals the map of the new electoral alliances from the Framework,” 3/22/25
- “A new map for the Shiite House .. Seven lists for the Coordination Framework during the upcoming elections,” 3/5/25
Bas News, “Iraq’s Sudani Forms Political Coalition Ahed of Elections,” 3/28/25
Al Hurra, “Muqtada al-Sadr Announces Non-Participation in Upcoming Iraqi Elections,” 3/28/25
Al Mada, “Alliances move between Al-Sudani and Al-Maliki’s boats, awaiting Al-Sadr’s compass,” 3/4/25
This Day In Iraqi History - Apr 3 King Ghazi died in a car accident King Faisal II took power but was only 3 His cousin Abd al-Ilah became Regent
1929 Shah and King Faisal passed notes that legal barriers over Persian nationals In Iraq had been
lifted
1939 King Ghazi died in car accident King Faisal II took power but was only 3 His cousin Abd al-
Ilah chosen to rule in his place
1939 German Amb to Iraq Grobba spread rumors that England behind Ghazi’s death Led to riot in
Mosul that sacked British consulate and killed consular
1940 PM Gaylani ended martial law Released some political prisoners
1941 Golden Square officers picked Gaylani to become PM for 3rd time Started arresting pro-British
politicians
(Musings On Iraq interview World War II In Iraq and Syria Interview With Case Western’s Prof Broich)
(Musings On Iraq review The Chatham House Version and other Middle-Eastern Studies)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq Between the Two World Wars, The Militarist Origins of Tyranny)
1941 British War Office asked commander in Middle East what forces available for Iraq after
Golden Square military coup
1941 Nazi Germany sent letter saying it supported the Golden Square coup and would lend military
aid
(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s First Battle Of Fallujah 1941)
(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 The Role of the Military In Politics, A case study of Iraq to 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)
(Musings On Iraq review Blood, Oil and the Axis: The Allied Resistance Against A Fascist State In Iraq and the Levant, 1941)
1965 PM Yahya told Egypt’s Gen Nasser Iraq was about to launch offensive against Kurds
Nasser objected believing it would weaken Arab front he was trying to create against Israel
1969 Communist militant Hajj who tried and failed at armed revolt in 1968 appeared on Baghdad
TV attacked his group and denounced the Communists Was appointed Iraq’s representative to UNESCO in Paris as reward
(Musings On Iraq review Red Star Over Iraq, Iraqi Communism Before Saddam)
(Musings On Iraq A History Of The Iraqi Communist Party Interview With Univ of East Anglia’s Johan Franzen)
1970 Def Min Tikriti Inter Min Ammash named co-VPs under Pres Bakr to try to end rivalry
between two for power
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq Since 1958, From Revolution To Dictatorship)
1991 Army captured Sulaymaniya last major town held by Kurdish rebels after Gulf War
(Musings On Iraq review Kurds of Iraq, Tragedy and Hope)
1991 Saddam told aides that Iraqi army was psychologically defeated by Gulf War and that was why
Shiites and Kurds rose up against govt Said goal of Gulf War was to destroy Iraqi military to allow 91 uprising
(Musings On Iraq Saddam’s View of Iraq’s 1991 Uprising)
2003 Republican Guard Medina Div carried out counterattack vs US in north Babil but
destroyed
2003 Republican Guard began withdrawing north towards Baghdad while under attack by
US Republican Guard II Corps cmdr Gen Hamdani told his staff to go home War over
2003 US 3rd Inf Div launched probing attack on Saddam Intl Airport in Baghdad to test Iraqi defense
Met Republican Guard and Fadayeen and defeated them US decided Iraqis weak and sent brigade into Baghdad 1st Marine Expeditionary Force reached Baghdad
(Musings On Iraq review Voices From Iraq, A People’s History, 2003-2009)
2003 Baath officials began fleeing Baghdad
2003 Sadrists held march in east Baghdad
2003 Information Minister Sahaf denied U.S. had taken Karbala or Um Qasr in Basra and said all
those stories were lies
2003 British forces made deep thrust into Basra City
(Musings On Iraq review Burning Horizon, British Veteran Accounts Of The Iraq War 2003)
2003 US sent SEAL team up Shatt al-Arab to block any Iraqi attacks down waterway or escape
attempts Met by Iranian Revolutionary Guard who turned them back Gave Iran control of waterway
2003 3rd Army chief planner Col Benson wrote that deBaathification could increase insurgency
2004 US arrested Sadr’s deputy Mustafa Yacoubi for murder of Sheikh Abdul Khoei
(Musings On Iraq A Divided Sadr Trend)
(Musings On Iraq US Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 12 Things Fall Apart Apr 2004)
2004 Sadr said that he wanted to unite with Hezbollah and Hamas
2004 Sec State Powell said US intelligence gave him questionable intelligence about Iraq mobile
WMD labs
(Musings On Iraq How Iraqi Defector CURVEBALL Became Basis For US Claims That Iraq Had WMD)
(Musings On Iraq review The WMD Mirage, Iraq’s Decade of Deception and America’s False Premise for War)
2005 Hajjm al-Hassani interim Industry Min and former member of Iraqi Islamic Party nominated as speaker of new parliament 3 months after election
2007 Integrity Comm head Radhi said Iraq lost $8 bil since 2004 due to corruption $2 bil for
electricity disappeared Fmr Electricity Min Samarraie convicted of corruption but fled for US Ministers blocked investigations into $55 mil in missing funds
(Musings On Iraq Corruption In Iraq An Interview With Stuart Bowen Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction)
(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Trouble Fighting Corruption Interview With Vincent Foulk Former US Anti-Graft Official)
2007 Report 8 Mahdi Army commanders dismissed for insubordination and crimes
2008 PM Maliki officially extended Charge of Knights op against Mahdi Army to Sadr City
2008 PM Maliki said he would spend $100 mil for services in Basra and create 25,000 jobs Didn’t
happen
2008 Report Western official said 50% of police in Sadr City sided with Mahdi Army during Charge
of Knights Interior Min fired 407 police in Basra 1000 soldiers deserted during fighting in Basra ISF only held ¼ of city before ceasefire
(Musings on Iraq US Army In The Iraq War Volume 2 Chapter 8 Crescendo: Maliki Against The Sadrists)
2008 Report Charge of Knights stalled in Basra Was saved by massive influx of US support including
advisers air strikes and supplies Was due to PM Maliki ordering attack without a plan
2008 UK Cabinet officials reported PM Maliki didn't’ tell UK about Charge of Knights beforehand
Excluded UK military from command center Then blamed UK for not helping ISF when it ran into problems in Basra
2008 Iraqi special forces arrested head of Thar Allah party in Basra claiming it was stealing
govt property and behind violence
2008 RAND’s Kelly told Senate Iraqis probably wouldn’t reconcile for a generation US couldn’t
achieve all of its goals in Iraq because didn’t have capabilities Questioned whether Iraq could become functioning democracy
2012 Kurds accused Shiite parties in Baghdad of smuggling oil to Israel via Jordan after Dep PM
Shahristani accused KRG of smuggling oil to Iran
(Musings On Iraq Kurds May Be Fighting Losing Battle With Iraq’s Central Government Over Oil Exports)
2012 Ayatollah Sistani rep in Hillah had house bombed in wave of attacks against Ayatollah’s
followers in Baghdad Karbala Muthanna Babil Qadisiya Najaf Dhi Qar Basra
2012 Obama called PM Maliki about Iran flying weapons to Syria via Iraqi airspace Couldn’t get
Maliki to stop them
2014 Sadr said PM Maliki should not run for 3rd term as premier
(Musings On Iraq Moqtada al-Sadr Ramps Up Campaign Against Maliki Before Iraq’s Elections While His Party is In Disarray)
2015 Salahaddin council called on Ayatollah Sistani to intervene to stop burning and looting in Tikrit
Sistani’s reps called for end of looting during Friday sermons
(Musings On Iraq Divisions Over Iraq War Exposed In Victory In Tikrit)
(Musings On Iraq Human Rights Watch Finds Iraq Government Forces Destroyed Tikrit Area After Its Recapture)
2015 Head of Salahaddin council said Hashd were looting and burning buildings in Tikrit
2015 VP Nujafi complained about looting and burning homes in Tikrit
2015 PM Abadi ordered ISF to arrest anyone breaking law in Tikrit
2015 Police said there had been clashes between soldiers and Hashd to stop them from looting in
Tikrit
2017 Turkish PM Yildirim said Kurdish independence referendum was unacceptable
(Musings On Iraq What’s Next For Kurdistan After The Referendum?)
(Musings On Iraq review The Great Betrayal, How America Abandoned The Kurds And Lost The Middle East)
2017 IS shelled of 4 neighborhoods in east Mosul Killed 32 IS mortar fire into Badush which it
recently lost killed 32 Bodies of 81 people found in Mosul
(Musings On Iraq Mosul Campaign Day 169, Apri 3, 2017)
2018 Report Govt paid compensation to tribes to get land for oil development Led them to ask for more money and from oil companies One tribe attacked oil workers at West Qurna 2 oil field to extort money 1 source said oil companies paid tribes $25 mil for land use $25 mil in gifts
2021 Iraq and Lebanon agreed to oil deal Iraq would send oil Lebanon would pay with medical
services Lebanese govt didn’t control those services and couldn’t use Iraq’s crude for its power plants Would use Iraqi oil to buy petroleum from companies
(Musings On Iraq Iraq-Lebanon Sign Trade Deal That Doesn’t Make Any Sense)
2021 Bomb went off at ceremony for killed protesters in Dhi Qar 3 injured
(Musings On Iraq UN Report On Violence Against Iraqi Protesters)
(Musings On Iraq United Nations Faults Iraq For Failing To Protect Protesters)
View the Iraq History Timelines
March 2025 Only 1 Insurgent Incident In Iraq
The Islamic State continued its slow death in Iraq in March 2025. There was only one incident during the month by the militants.
At the start of March a checkpoint on the Baghdad-Kirkuk highway was attacked by the Islamic State. There were no casualties.
That was the only activity by the group.
Of the twelve full weeks of 2025 there have been five with no insurgent incidents.
The one incident during the month also matches the previous low seen in February, June and November 2024.
Last year the organization averaged 5.1 incidents per month. So far in 2025 they are only averaging 3.3 and most of those are the result of government operations coming across insurgent cells rather than attacks.
Security Incidents In Iraq By Province
|
Province |
Mar 1-7 |
Mar 8-14 |
Mar 15-21 |
Mar 22-28 |
Mar 29-31 |
Total |
|
Baghdad |
1 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
1 |
|
Totals |
1 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
1 |
Casualties In Iraq By Province
|
Casualties |
Mar 1-7 |
Mar 8-14 |
Mar 15-21 |
Mar 22-28 |
Mar 29-31 |
Total |
Security In Iraq 2022-23
|
Week |
Security Incidents (Total/By IS) |
Dead (Total/By IS) |
Wounded (Total/By IS) |
|
JAN 2023 |
29/4 Pro-Iran |
12 |
15 |
|
FEB |
20/3 Pro-Iran |
12 |
18 |
|
MAR |
9 |
18 |
8 |
|
APR |
16 |
6 |
8 |
|
MAY |
15 |
8 |
14 |
|
JUN |
10 |
10 |
10 |
|
JUL |
11/2 Pro-Iran |
2 |
4 |
|
AUG |
13/1 Pro-Iran |
2 |
23 |
|
SEP |
5 |
2 |
6 |
|
OCT |
17/15 Pro-Iran |
- |
8 |
|
NOV |
35/29 Pro-Iran |
15 |
29 (8 Amer) |
|
DEC |
35/26 Pro-Iran |
2K |
16W |
|
Jan 1-7 |
10/6 Pro-Iran/1 Iranian |
5 |
9 |
|
Jan 8-14 |
7/3 Pro-Iran |
3 |
3 |
|
Jan 15-21 |
10/6 Pro-Iran |
6 |
6 |
|
Jan 22-28 |
11/10 Pro-Iran |
- |
- |
|
Jan 29-31 |
3 Pro-Ira |
- |
- |
|
JAN 2024 |
42/28 Pro-Iran/1 Iranian |
14 |
20 |
|
Feb 1-7 |
1 Pro-Iran |
- |
- |
|
Feb 8-14 |
- |
- |
- |
|
Feb 15-21 |
- |
- |
- |
|
Feb 22-29 |
1 |
- |
- |
|
FEB |
2/1 Pro-Iran |
- |
- |
|
Mar 1-7 |
4/2 Pro-Iran |
1 |
4 |
|
Mar 8-14 |
8/1 Pro-Iran |
4 |
8 |
|
Mar 15-21 |
2 |
- |
2 |
|
Mar 22-28 |
2 Pro-Iran |
- |
- |
|
Mar 29-31 |
2/1Pro-iran |
1 |
1 |
|
MAR |
18/6 Pro-Iran |
6 |
15 |
|
Apr 1-7 |
3/2 Pro-Iran |
- |
- |
|
Apr 8-14 |
1 Pro-Iran |
- |
- |
|
Apr 15-21 |
3 Pro-Iran |
- |
- |
|
Apr 22-28 |
1 Pro-Iran |
4 |
- |
|
Apr 29-30 |
1 |
2 |
- |
|
APR |
9/7 Pro-Iran |
6 |
- |
|
May 1-7 |
3 Pro-Iran |
- |
- |
|
May 8-14 |
6/5 Pro-Iran |
5 |
5 |
|
May 15-21 |
11/9 Pro-Iran |
1 |
6 |
|
May 22-28 |
6/2 Pro-Iran |
11 |
12 |
|
May 29-31 |
1 Pro-Iran |
- |
- |
|
MAY |
27/20 Pro-Iran |
18 |
22 |
|
Jun 1-7 |
4 Pro-Iran |
- |
- |
|
Jun 8-14 |
2 Pro-Iran |
- |
- |
|
Jun 15-21 |
2/1 Pro-Iran |
1 |
- |
|
Jun 22-28 |
5 Pro-Iran |
- |
- |
|
Jun 29-31 |
1 Pro-Iran |
- |
- |
|
JUN |
14/13 Pro-Iran |
1 |
- |
|
Jul 1-7 |
2 Pro-Iran |
- |
- |
|
Jul 8-14 |
4 |
10 |
4 |
|
Jul 15-21 |
4 Pro-Iran |
- |
- |
|
Jan 22-28 |
2 Pro-Iran |
- |
- |
|
Jul 29-31 |
- |
- |
- |
|
JUL |
12/8 Pro-Iran |
10 |
4 |
|
Aug 1-7 |
3/2Pro-Iran |
- |
10 (5 Amer) |
|
Aug 8-14 |
2 |
2 |
- |
|
Aug 15-21 |
2/1 Pro-Iran |
- |
2 |
|
Aug 22-28 |
2 Pro-Iran |
- |
- |
|
Aug 29-31 |
4/1 Pro-Iran |
4 |
8 (7 Amer) |
|
AUG |
13/6 Pro-Iran |
6 |
20 (14 Amer) |
|
Sep 1-7 |
3/1 Pro-Iran |
5 |
4 |
|
Sep 8-14 |
3/1 Pro-Iran |
4 |
5 |
|
Sep 15-21 |
5/2 Pro-Iran |
- |
7 |
|
Sep 22-28 |
18 Pro-Iran |
- |
- |
|
Sep 29-30 |
8 Pro-Iran |
- |
- |
|
SEP |
37/30 Pro-Iran |
9 |
16 |
|
Oct 1-7 |
21/18 Pro-Iran |
6 |
14 |
|
Oct 8-14 |
17 Pro-Iran |
- |
- |
|
Oct 15-21 |
9/8 Pro-Iran |
1 |
- |
|
Oct 22-28 |
17 Pro-Iran |
- |
2 US Soldiers |
|
Oct 29-31 |
6 Pro-Iran |
- |
- |
|
OCT |
70/66 Pro-Iran |
7 |
14 (2US Soldiers) |
|
Nov 1-7 |
18 Pro-Iran |
- |
- |
|
Nov 8-14 |
19 Pro-Iran |
- |
- |
|
Nov 15-21 |
10/9 Pro-Iran |
3 |
3 |
|
Nov 22-28 |
2 Pro-Iran |
- |
- |
|
Nov 29-30 |
- |
- |
- |
|
NOV |
49/48 Pro-Iran |
3 |
3 |
|
Dec 1-7 |
- |
- |
- |
|
Dec 8-14 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
|
Dec 15-21 |
- |
- |
- |
|
Dec 22-28 |
2 |
6 |
2 |
|
Dec 29-31 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
|
DEC |
5 |
10 |
7 |
|
Jan 1-5 |
1 |
1 |
- |
|
Jan 8-14 |
1 |
- |
3 |
|
Jan 15-21 |
2 |
8 |
5 |
|
Jan 22-28 |
- |
- |
- |
|
Jan 29-31 |
- |
- |
- |
|
JAN |
4 |
9 |
8 |
|
Feb 1-7 |
1 Pro-Iran |
- |
- |
|
Feb 8-14 |
3 |
1 |
6 |
|
Feb 15-21 |
1 |
- |
- |
|
Feb 22-28 |
1 |
- |
2 |
|
FEB |
6/1 Pro-Iran |
1 |
7 |
|
Mar 1-7 |
1 |
- |
- |
|
Mar 8-14 |
- |
- |
- |
|
Mar 15-21 |
- |
- |
- |
|
Mar 22-28 |
- |
- |
- |
|
Mar 29-31 |
- |
- |
- |
|
Mar |
1 |
- |
- |
SOURCES
NINA, "The Popular Mobilization Forces repel a terrorist attack on the Baghdad-Kirkuk road," 3/1/25
This Day In Iraqi History - Apr 2 Iraq closed border with Iran declared Kurdish revolt over Barzani and 150,000 people fled to Iran
1941 Regent of Iraq arrived at UK airbase at Habaniya Anbar after Golden Square officers tried to
arrest him after coup Regent tried and failed to organize resistance to coup in Basra Then fled to Jordan
(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s First Battle Of Fallujah 1941)
(Musings On Iraq interview World War II In Iraq and Syria Interview With Case Western’s Prof Broich)
(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 The Role of the Military In Politics, A case study of Iraq to 1941)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq Between the Two World Wars, The Militarist Origins of Tyranny)
1946 National Democratic Party Independence Party Liberal Party National Unity Party People’s
Party licensed Became major opposition parties during monarchy Called for independence from UK End Anglo-Iraq Treaty Arab unity Democracy Individual liberties Some socialist and Marxist
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Democratic Moment)
(Musings On Iraq review The Other Iraq, Pluralism and Culture in Hashemite Iraq)
1975 Iraq army sealed border with Iran and declared Kurdish revolt over Mustafa Barzani and
150,000 Kurds fled to Iran 1972-75 some 17,000 killed and 280,000 displaced during Kurdish rebellion
(Musings On Iraq review Killing Hope, U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II)
(Musings On Iraq review The Kurds, A Modern History)
(Musings On Iraq review Kurds of Iraq, Tragedy and Hope)
(Musings On Iraq review The Great Betrayal, How America Abandoned The Kurds And Lost The Middle East)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq & the Kurdish Question, 1958-70)
(Musings On Iraq When The Shah and Nixon Manipulated The Kurds)
1980 Saddam said those killed in attack on Mustansiriya Univ Baghdad bombing would not be
forgotten
1982 Dep Cmdr of Iran’s armed forces claimed end of Iran-Iraq War was near
1986 Khomeini called for all able bodied men to join armed forces to overthrow Saddam
(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)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 1: The Battle for Khuzestan, September 1980-May 1982)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 2: Iran Strikes back, June 1982-December 1986)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 3: Iraq’s Triumph)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 4: The Forgotten Fronts)
1990 Report Iraq wanted to double oil exports by end of yr to pay debts and rebuild after Iran-Iraq
war Analysts doubted capacity Lacked foreign exchange Spent most of it on war Paid little of its debt Inflation at 40% Imported most of its food Still spent large sums on military and nuclear bomb program
1990 Report personal typewriters were no longer illegal in Iraq but had to be registered with the govt
1990 Saddam speech Justified executing UK journalist Bazoft as spy Threatened to burn half of
Israel with WMD if Iraq attacked
(Musings On Iraq Why Did Saddam Threaten Israel Before The 1990 Invasion of Kuwait?)
(Musings On Iraq review The Saddam Tapes)
(Musings On Iraq review the Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq in Wartime, Soldiering, Martyrdom, and Remembrance)
(Musings On Iraq review Saddam’s War, An Iraqi Military Perspective of the Iran-Iraq War)
1991 State Dept U.S. never said that it was for removing Saddam It did
(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)
(Musings On Iraq When The US Helped Start A Rebellion In Iraq That It Didn’t Want)
1991 Turkey said that 30,000 Kurds had entered country and 220,00 more coming as Saddam put
down Kurdish revolt Closed its border as a result
1991 Iran and Turkey went to UN about Iraq’s suppression of Kurd and Shiite revolts and refugee
crisis it was creating
1991 Kurds began fleeing Sulaymaniya in face of govt offensive to retake it from Peshmerga
1991 UN Resolution 687 said Iraq had to agree to border with Kuwait peacekeeping force along that
border Coalition forces would exit SIraq Iraq had to destroy its WMD and long range missiles Iraq had to make a declaration on its WMD and nuclear programs by 4/17/91 UN Sec Gen would create a weapons inspection commission by 5/17/19 Said Iraq had to return stolen property and pay reparations to Kuwait Until all of those were met sanctions would remain
(Musings On Iraq review Hide And Seek, The Search For Truth In Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review The Saddam Tapes)
(Musings On Iraq review Invisible War, The United States And The Iraq Sanctions)
2002 PM Blair met with Chief of Defense Staff Adm Boyce before conference with Bush in US
Decided US needed to be deliberate and build coalition vs Iraq
(Musings On Iraq review A War Of Choice, The British In Iraq 2003-9)
2002 UK Amb Meyer and PM Blair foreign policy advisor Manning met with Natl Sec Adv Rice
Reported Bush hadn’t worked out any details on Iraq yet and smarting from European rejecting pivot towards Iraq
(Musings On Iraq Chilcot Report Section 3.2 Development of UK Iraq Strategy and Options, January to April 2002 – “Axis of Evil” to Crawford)
(Musings On Iraq Review The Report of the Iraq Inquiry, Executive Summary)
2002 Ansar al-Islam attempted to assassinate Barham Salah of PUK in Kurdistan
2003 US forces took Karbala US 1st Marine Div crossed Tigris after destroying Baghdad Republican Guard Div Moved on Nida Republican Guard Div Iraqi 16th Infantry Div in Mosul told to move south to support Republican Guard around Baghdad
(Musings On Iraq review Voices From Iraq, A People’s History, 2003-2009)
2003 Emergency meeting of Republican Guard in Baghdad with Qusay Hussein He said
Saddam ordered Republican Guard Al Nida Div to move west to block coming US invasion from Jordan Saddam got Russian intel that’s where real invasion coming from Republican Guard Corps cmdr Gen Hamdani objected Said he needed forces to block US forces in Karbala heading for Baghdad 1st time Iraqi leadership heard how far US had advanced Defense Min Chiefs of staff of Republican Guard and regular army dismissed Hamdani Def Min said Saddam made order and no changing it Qusay also had all Republican Guard divisions retreat towards Baghdad Opened way to capital During meeting heard US attacked Jurf al-Sakhr in Babil confirming US advance Hamdani said it was like Hitler in the bunker at the end of WWII
(Musings On Iraq Russia Provided Iraq With Details Of US Plans Right Before Invasion)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraqi Perspectives Project, A View of Operation Iraqi Freedom from Saddam’s Senior Leadership)
2003 Russian Amb to Iraq told Iraq Foreign Min US was going to cut off Baghdad from south north east with biggest force in Karbala US was concentrating bombing on Baghdad Final attack wouldn’t happen until around Apr 15 when 4th Inf Div would arrive in Iraq
2003 Republican Guard II Corps cmdr Gen Hamdani tried to set up new defensive line in Yusifiya but Republican Guard Chief of Staff ordered him to launch counterattack Hamdani ordered Republican Guard Medina Div to carry out attack While moving into north Babil was attacked by US air strikes
2003 US raid freed US POW Jessica Lynch from an Iraqi hospital
2003 Talabani said Peshmerga would not attack Kirkuk city to stave off criticism from US and Turkey
Kurds ended up taking city
(Musings On Iraq How Did Kirkuk Become Such A Divisive Issue? A Portrait of The City In
2003)
2003 Sec Def Rumsfeld sent memo to military to cooperate with ORHA because wasn’t helping it
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq and Back, Inside The War To Win The Peace)
2003 State Dept leaked complaints to LA Times about Pentagon’s postwar plans to exclude UN and
support Chalabi and INC
2003 Pentagon-CIA meeting Def Sec Rumsfeld said he wanted to move forward with Iraqi
Interim Authority CIA Dir Tenet warned against including Chalabi and exiles in authority Dep CENCTOM head Gen Abizaid said conference should be held inside liberated south to decide on authority even though Sunnis would largely be excluded Dep Def Sec Wolfowitz said could start with 6 members of exile leadership council and grow from there Tenet agreed
2004 Marines ordered to go into Fallujah and arrest culprits behind killing Blackwater contractors
Became Op Vigilant Resolve
(Musings On Iraq US Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 12 Things Fall Apart Apr 2004)
(Musings On Iraq review The Battle for Fallujah, Occupation, Resistance and Stalemate in the War in Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review No True Glory, A Frontline Account of the Battle for Fallujah)
2004 Sadr gave angry speech against US occupation after CPA closed his newspaper
(Musings On Iraq review The Triumph of the Martyrs, A Reporter’s Journey into Occupied Iraq)
2004 Sadrists protested outside Green Zone demanding movement paper be re-opened
2004 Mahdi Army began marching in Sadr City as tensions with US grew
2004 Some Friday prayers in Fallujah condemned attack on Blackwater contractors in city
2004 Sec State Powell criticized US intel for giving him faulty claims about Iraq’s WMD for his Feb
03 UN speech
(Musings On Iraq Iraq One Of The Worst Intelligence Failures In US History)
2004 Natl Sec Adv Rice told Bremer that Chalabi was working against US interests by siding with
Shiite bloc in Iraqi Governing Council Rice wanted him out
(Musings On Iraq review The Man Who Pushed America To War, The Extraordinary Life, Adventures, and Obsessions of Ahmad Chalabi)
2005 Al Qaeda in Iraq launched suicide attack on Abu Ghraib prison starting battle for town
(Musings On Iraq review Suicide Bombers In Iraq, The Strategy and Ideology of Martyrdom)
2006 Sec State Rice UK Foreign Sec Straw told PM Jaafari he didn’t have support and should step
down Jaafari said no
2006 US military reported 1313 Iraqi civilians killed in sectarian murders in March 2006 173 killed in
suicide bombings as civil war took off after Feb Samarra bombing
(Musings On Iraq review Voices From Iraq, A People’s History, 2003-2009)
2006 US Amb Khalilzad said militias should be disarmed Iraqi officials said that would create more
violence
2006 PM Jaafari said he would integrate militias into security forces to control them
2006 Fmr CENTCOM cmdr Gen Zinni on Meet the Press said Iraq failure of strategic planning by US
(Musings On Iraq review Fiasco: The American Military Adventure In Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review Losing Iraq, Inside The Post War Reconstruction Fiasco)
(Musings On Iraq review Plan of Attack: The Definitive Account Of The Decision To Invade Iraq)
2007 Ayatollah Sistani said he opposed US plan to reform deBaathification and allow former
Baathists back into govt Came after Sistani met with deBaathification Comm head Chalabi
2007 Report Islamic Army joined al-Rashideen Army Omar Brigades and Black Banners to fight ISI
2008 Maliki announced 7 day ceasefire in Basra City with Mahdi Army
(Musings on Iraq US Army In The Iraq War Volume 2 Chapter 8 Crescendo: Maliki Against The Sadrists)
2008 Retired Gen McCaffrey said ISI’s urban insurgency was defeated but that the war was
unsustainable for US
2008 Council on Foreign Relations’ Biddle told Senate US would have to stay in Iraq for a very long
time to maintain stability
2008 Revenue Watch’s Said told Senate Iraq wasn’t using improved security to carry out any political
reforms Said ruling parties consolidating power and incapable of providing for public
2008 Center for a New American Security’s Flournoy told Senate couldn’t have any more security
gains without political reforms Surge made Iraqis believe in US not Baghdad Iraqi govt unwilling to make any changes US didn’t have strategy to get Baghdad to change
(Musings On Iraq review Surge, My Journey with General David Petraeus and the Remaking of the Iraq War)
2009 Arab Jabour Baghdad Sahwa leader arrested for killing ISI fighters as part of PM Maliki’s
crackdown on Sahwa
(Musings On Iraq Problems With Integrating Sons of Iraq Continue)
2009 Report PM Maliki and Sadr agreed to shut out ISCI from most provincial govts after Jan vote
Agreed to joint rule in Babil Dhi Qar Muthanna Najaf Wasit
2010 PM Maliki said he was going to form alliance with Kurds and backed Talabani to remain as
president to form new govt
2010 Sadrists began referendum amongst followers to see who they wanted to be new premier
(Musings On Iraq The Sadrists Try To Have Their Say On Iraq’s Next Prime Minister)
2010 PM Maliki’s talks with National Alliance failed as ISCI’s Hakim opposed Maliki’s 2nd term
2011 56 wounded in clashes between police and protesters in Sulaymaniya
(Musings On Iraq interview with journalist Wladimir Van Wilgenburg on 2011 KRG protests)
(Musings On Iraq How Iraq’s Kurdistan Broke Up Two Months Of Protests)
2012 Over 300 followers of Mahmoud Sarkhi arrested in Nasiriya
2012 Dep PM Shahristani accused KRG of smuggling oil to Iran and Turkey Said KRG had earned
$3.5 bil from smuggling in 2011 Said KRG not meeting its oil export quota under 2012 budget Said KRG owed Baghdad $5.6 bil
(Musings On Iraq Iraqi Kurdistan’s Failed Independent Oil Strategy)
2012 Oil Min Luaibi claimed Exxon was halting work in KRG so that it could continue
working with Baghdad KRG Natural Resource Min Hawrami denied that
(Musings On Iraq Exxon Mobile Trying To Have It Both Ways In Iraq, Developing Oil Fields in The South And North)
(Musings On Iraq Exxon Deal With Iraq’s Kurds Gains Powerful New Ally, Ninewa’s Governor, But Will It Backfire On Him?)
(Musings On Iraq How the New Chevron Deal Affects Oil Dispute Between Iraq’s Central Government And Kurdistan)
(Musings On Iraq The State Of The Kurdish Regional Government In Iraq, An Interview With National Defense Univ’s Dr Denise Natali)
2012 Report KRG stopped oil exports for Baghdad 2011 made budget deal for KRG to export oil
for Baghdad in return for monthly budget payments KRG said hadn’t gotten money since May 2011 KRG was exporting 50,000 bar/day for Baghdad below its quota March 2012 Finance Min Issawi said Baghdad would be paying KRG $560 mil but had to be audited first Dep PM Shahristnai accused Kurds of smuggling oil to Iran and Turkey
(Musings On Iraq Kurds May Be Fighting Losing Battle With Iraq’s Central Government Over Oil Exports)
(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Government Increases Pressure Upon Kurdistan For Its Oil Policy By Threatening To Cut Its Share Of The Budget)
2012 Central Bank of Iraq tried to tighten rules on dollar auctions to stop money laundering Used by
Iran and Syria to get around sanctions Poor enforcement meant didn’t work
(Musings On Iraq Are Iran And Syria Buying Up American Dollars In Iraq To Get Around Sanctions?)
2013 Gunmen in army uniforms attacked 4 independent newspaper offices in Baghdad Mahmoud
Sarkhi blamed
2013 Election Commission said provincial vote in Anbar and Ninewa would be delayed until May
2013 Sadrists said they would end cabinet boycott Started over elections in Anbar and Ninewa being
postponed
2015 PM Abadi arrived in Tikrit after its liberation to make victory tour in city
(Musings On Iraq Divisions Over Iraq War Exposed In Victory In Tikrit)
2015 Sadr said brazen militias should be removed from Tikrit by ISF after stories of looting and
burning homes Were also his political rivals
2015 Hashd leader Muhandis said that any looting and abuses in Tikrit were done by locals not
Hashd
(Musings On Iraq Human Rights Watch Finds Iraq Government Forces Destroyed Tikrit Area After Its Recapture)
2015 Guard in Tikrit said he counted more than 200 homes in Qadisiyah district destroyed after
city’s liberation
2015 Report Jalawla in Diyala empty of people even though freed from IS in Nov 2014 Some
displaced allowed to return but couldn’t stay Asayesh said 2 areas that supported IS would be destroyed and rebuilt
2016 Kurdish Alliance said it would not vote on Abadi’s new cabinet unless it got its quota of
ministers
(Musings On Iraq A Review Of Iraq Premier Abadi’s Reform Program Interview With Reidar Visser)
(Musings On Iraq Complaints About Iraq PM Abadi Undermine His Cabinet Reshuffle)
2016 Report US counterterrorism official said IS facing financial crisis Reports of clashes between
IS cmdrs over corruption Reports of pay cuts for fighters IS oil production down 1/3 due to Coalition air strikes Revenue from oil down 50% due to drop in prices and drop in capacity IS Finance Min killed in US air strike Loss of territory meant less tax money
2016 PM Abadi announced investigation into Unaoil after report that it bribed Iraqi officials to get oil
contracts Nothing came of it
2016 Babil council said no one could return to Jurf al-Sakhr until IEDs removed Real reason was
along route used by Shiite pilgrims Civilians never allowed back
(Musings On Iraq Babil Government Still Not Allowing Citizens Of Iraq’s Jurf al-Sakhr Return Home)
2017 PUK and KDP held meeting over independence referendum Agreed to create a committee and
hold vote soon
(Musings On Iraq What’s Next For Kurdistan After The Referendum?)
(Musings On Iraq review The Great Betrayal, How America Abandoned The Kurds And Lost The Middle East)
2017 Kirkuk Gov Karim said he would not follow parliamentary vote to remove KRG flag from
govt buildings
2017 Kurdish councilman moved to have Kirkuk joined to KRG
2017 Kataib Hezbollah said US trying to stay in Iraq and resistance factions were ready to fight it
(Musings On Iraq Instrument Of Iran’s Power In Iraq And Syria Kataib Hezbollah)
2018 Anbar councilman said not enough money to do reconstruction Blamed corrupt officials Said only getting money from aid groups and wasn’t enough 160 bridges 66 water purification plants 240 schools damaged in province during war
2018 300 PKK withdrew from Sinjar Ninewa to Syria Still controlled Sinjar area
2018 Pres Erdogan said Turkey would fight PKK without asking Baghdad Said if Baghdad didn’t deal with PKK Turkey would move into Iraq
(Musings On Iraq review Turkey, the US and Iraq)
2018 Report Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed wanted to improve relations with Iraq to counter Iran 2017 Saudi Foreign Minister visited Iraq 1st Saudi official to visit since 1990 Sadr went to Saudi Arabia Feb 2018 Saudi football team played in Basra
2018 Report Salahaddin councilman accused Hashd of smuggling oil from Tuz Kharmato to Iran Hashd denied story
2018 Accountability and Justice Commission banned 374 candidates for Baathist ties
2020 Iraq suspended Reuters’ license to operate in Iraq for 3 months and fined $21,000 for
article saying more COVID cases then govt reported Suspension was lifted in 3 wks
2020 Kataib Hezbollah said there would be no more attacks on US as long as it continued to
withdraw from Iraq Attacks continued
View the Iraq History Timelines
Pro-Iran Factions And Tehran Planning Attacks Upon Syria?
There are worrying reports that pro-Iran groups in Iraq want to intervene in Syria again to undermine or overthrow the new government in Damascus. This is because many were invested in defending the Assad government and Tehran’s interests and want to re-establish their influence in the country.
Al Mada reported that members of the ruling Coordination Framework are upset with the new government in Syria. Some have talked about sending forces back in and overthrowing the regime. This is likely from pro-Iran groups that supported Assad.
Bas News added that pro-Iran Hashd groups along with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard are forming a militia made up of ex-Assad soldiers. This is taking place in Anbar which neighbors Syria and where the main border crossing is controlled by Tehran’s Iraqi allies.
This is all motivated by the fall of Assad. Iran’s Iraqi proxies went to the defense of Assad as soon as hostilities began in 2011. When the rebel offensive started last year Tehran and the Iraqi factions were caught off guard. The government fell so quickly neither could respond in time. Now they could be plotting their return.
This is complicated by the new Trump administration which has restarted its Maximum Pressure campaign versus Iran. Any overt intervention by Iran and Iraq could lead to military action by the United States and probably Israel as well. Baghdad is already weary that the Americans might strike it because of the pro-Iran Hashd. Moving into Syria would almost ensure that. The problem for the Sudani government is that it has no real control over these armed groups.
SOURCES
Bas News, “Iraqi Militias, IRGC Recruiting Ex-Syrian Officers for New Force: Report,” 3/27/25
Al Mada, “Fatherless Factions: Messages of a Possible Attack on Tehran After the Houthis,” 3/18/25
This Day In Iraqi History - Apr 1 PM Taha Hashemi overthrown in coup by pan-Arab Golden Square officers Regent fled along with leading politicians
872 Brother of the Caliph Muwafaq defeated by Zanj slave rebellion in Basra
Musings On Iraq review The Revolt Of African Slaves In Iraq in the 3rd/9th Century
1922 Leading cleric Mahdi al-Khalisi invited Sunni and Shiite sheikhs to Karbala to come up
with response Wahabi Ikhwan threat to Iraq
(Musings On Iraq review The Shi’is Of Iraq)
1941 PM Hashemi deposed in Golden Square officers’ coup Army surrounded royal palace
but Regent escaped to Anbar with help of US ambassador Nuri al-Said and other pro-British politicians fled Iraq
(Musings On Iraq interview World War II In Iraq and Syria Interview With Case Western’s Prof Broich)
(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s First Battle Of Fallujah 1941)
(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 The Role of the Military In Politics, A case study of Iraq to 1941)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq And Syria 1941, The Politics and Strategy of the Second World War)
(Musings On Iraq review Blood, Oil and the Axis: The Allied Resistance Against A Fascist State In Iraq and the Levant, 1941)
(Musings On Iraq review The Modern History of Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq Between the Two World Wars, The Militarist Origins of Tyranny)
1941 US and UK believed Iraq coup part of German plan in coordination with invasion of
Balkans and Libya It wasn’t
1955 PM Said announced 1930 Anglo-Iraq Treaty would be terminated Said new Anglo-Iraq
treaty would be signed Apr 4 Air bases would be turned over to Iraqi control
1962 Mustafa Barzani ambushed govt forces disrupting Baghdad’s spring offensive
(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)
(Musings On Iraq review Journey Among Brave Men, Travels in Kurdistan)
(Musings On Iraq Explaining Kurdish Nationalism Interview With Teen Tech Univ Prof Michael Gunter)
1975 Iraqi amnesty offer to Kurdish rebels and army deserters expired
1975 Iran closed border to Kurds fleeing Iraqi government offensive against them
(Musings On Iraq review Killing Hope, U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II)
(Musings On Iraq review The Great Betrayal, How America Abandoned The Kurds And Lost The Middle East)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq & the Kurdish Question, 1958-70)
(Musings On Iraq When The Shah and Nixon Manipulated The Kurds)
1980 Mustansiriya Univ in Baghdad bombed by Islamic Action Organization in attempt on
life of Deputy PM Tariq Aziz Iraq blamed Iran
(Musings On Iraq review The Longest War, The Iran-Iraq Military Conflict)
Musings On Iraq review Saddam’s War, An Iraqi Military Perspective of the Iran-Iraq War
1981 General uprising in Iranian Kurdistan backed by Iraq started
1988 End of 2nd Anfal campaign
(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Anfal Campaign And The Destruction Of The Kurdish Opposition)
1989 Saddam held elections for new parliament as part of political reform after Iran-Iraq
War 160 of 250 seats went to Baathists
1990 Saddam speech said if US supported Israeli attack on Iraq he would burn Israel
(Musings On Iraq Why Did Saddam Threaten Israel Before The 1990 Invasion of Kuwait?)
(Musings On Iraq review The Saddam Tapes)
(Musings On Iraq review the Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq in Wartime, Soldiering, Martyrdom, and Remembrance)
(Musings On Iraq review Saddam’s War, An Iraqi Military Perspective of the Iran-Iraq War)
1991 Peshmerga repelled govt attack to retake Sulaymaniya
1991 Saddam’s forces put down Kurdish revolt in Zakho
1991 Barzani said 3 mil Kurds had fled to northern mountains along Turkish border to
escape govt attacks
(Musings On Iraq interview with National Univ of Singapore’s Fanar Haddad on the Impact of the 1991 Uprising)
(Musings On Iraq Remembering The 1991 Uprising In Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq Saddam’s View of Iraq’s 1991 Uprising)
(Musings On Iraq When The US Helped Start A Rebellion In Iraq That It Didn’t Want)
2002 UK ambassador to US Meyer warned Bush thinking of war with Iraq by autumn but no
postwar plans
(Musings On Iraq Chilcot Report Section 3.2 Development of UK Iraq Strategy and Options, January to April 2002 – “Axis of Evil” to Crawford)
(Musings On Iraq Chilcot Report Sec 3.3 Development of UK Iraq Strategy and Options April to July 2002)
(Musings On Iraq Chilcot Inquiry Section 6.1 Development of the Military Options for an Invasion of Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq Chilcot Inquiry Section 6.4 Planning and Preparation For A Post-Saddam Hussein Iraq, Mid-2001 to January 2003)
(Musings On Iraq Review The Report of the Iraq Inquiry, Executive Summary)
2003 Republican Guard II Corps cmdr Gen Hamdani recalled to Baghdad Saddam told him real
invasion was coming from Jordan through Anbar
(Musings On Iraq review Iraqi Perspectives Project, A View of Operation Iraqi Freedom from Saddam’s Senior Leadership)
2003 Republican Guard Al Nida Div ordered to move towards Baghdad to defend city Was combat ineffective with most soldiers having deserted
2003 US attacked Kut Hindiya Headed towards Hillah and Numaniya to cross Tigris Rangers took Haditha Dam to prevent Saddam from blowing it up
(Musings On Iraq review Voices From Iraq, A People’s History, 2003-2009)
2003 3rd Infantry Div moved through Karbala Gap and destroyed Medina Republican Guard Div
2003 British army took Zubayr, Basra
2003 ORHA head Garner made 1 day trip to Um Qasr port 1st time in Iraq
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq and Back, Inside The War To Win The Peace)
2003 Def Sec Rumsfeld wrote Bush VP Cheney and NSC Argued for interim Iraqi govt Said couldn’t have long debate within NSC about issue
2004 CPA adviser Larry Diamond told Bremer that there was a security vacuum in southern
Iraq being filled by militias
(Musings On Iraq review Squandered Victory, The American Occupation And the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq)
2004 Mahdi Army attacked CPA compound in Nasiriya
2004 Gen Kimmitt promised to pacify Fallujah after Blackwater contractors killed
(Musings On Iraq review The Battle for Fallujah, Occupation, Resistance and Stalemate in the War in Iraq)
2004 US intel officer told press regime change in Iraq could have been promoted as part of
war on terror but admin wanted to scare public using WMD
2004 CENTCOM Cmdr Gen Abizaid argued to White House killing of Blackwater
contractors in Fallujah insignificant
(Musings On Iraq US Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 12 Things Fall Apart Apr 2004)
2005 Report White House and CIA leadership created environment where only threat of Iraq
WMD reports were acceptable
2007 PM Maliki told Integrity Commission head Radhi charges against ministers cabinet
presidential staffs had to be okayed by PM office as way to block corruption investigations
(Musings On Iraq Corruption In Iraq An Interview With Stuart Bowen Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction)
(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Trouble Fighting Corruption Interview With Vincent Foulk Former US Anti-Graft Official)
2007 Report VP Hashemi and Pres Talabani talked with insurgents in Jordan Anbar
Salahaddin Diyala Talabani said insurgents started talks 1920 Revolution Brigades Islamic Army Jaish al-Rashideen Omar Brigades Rayat al-Sood talking about breaking with ISI
2007 Anbar Salvation Council in talks with tribes in Amiriya Fallujah to split from ISI
2007 Report Zoba tribes started fighting ISI Reports of clashes between Islamic Army and ISI
in Dour Samarra Tuz Kharmato and Dhuliya in Salahaddin 2 tribes fighting ISI in Diyala
(Musings On Iraq Diyala Province Backgrounder)
(Musings On Iraq The Demise But Not Death of Al Qaeda In Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Sunni Insurgency)
2008 PM Maliki sent 1st Quick Reaction Division from Anbar to Basra to restart Charge of
Knights offensive
2008 PM Maliki said 10,000 tribesmen in Basra would be organized into a Sons of Iraq
program Would become Tribal Support Council
(Musings On Iraq Argument For Maliki Being Iraq’s Next Strongman)
(Musings On Iraq Disputes Over Tribal Support Councils)
(Musings On Iraq Maliki’s Tribal Support Councils Appear To Be Paying Off)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq After America, Strongmen, Sectarians, Resistance)
2008 PM Maliki praised Badr and Dawa militia for helping to fight Mahdi Army in Basra
(Musings On Iraq Badr Organization A View Into Iraq’s Violent Past And Present)
2008 PM Maliki promised jobs and better services after Charge of Knights in Basra
2009 National Reconciliation Committee said it began talks with Asaib Ahl Al-Haq AAH in
talks with Maliki govt over releasing 5 Brits it kidnapped Wanted its leaders and followers released from US prisons PM Maliki also wanted to use AAH against Sadr in 2010 vote
(Musings On Iraq Asaib Ahl Al-Haq From A Breakaway Sadr Militia To Defenders Of Iraq)
2009 Baghdad was supposed to take control of all Sahwa in Iraq from US forces
2009 Report Baathist Naqshibandi now one of largest insurgent groups Got money from
Iraqi exiles in Syria
(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Resurgent Insurgency Interview With Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi)
2010 Iran said it would host Iraqi parties that wanted to talk about forming new govt
2010 Gorran head Mustafa taken to court for defamation against Pres Talabani
2010 Iraqiya announced regional tour of Egypt Qatar Turkey Syrian and Iran to drum up
support for forming new govt
(Musings On Iraq Turkey, Saudi Arabia, And Iran’s Role In Putting Together A New Iraqi Government)
2011 Day of Innocent Detainees Protest in Baghdad against corruption and demanded
release of prisoners Activist who helped organize Feb Day of Rage protests arrested and not seen since
2011 4 wounded in protests in Kalar Sulaymaniya calling for reforms in KRG 2 of them were
from Gorran list Gorran MP said party’s followers were being targeted by security forces
2012 PM Maliki said that if Pres Assad lost power there would be problems throughout the
Middle East Condemned Gulf States arming Syrian rebels
(Musings On Iraq Understanding Iraq’s Syrian Policy)
2012 KRG halted oil exports for Baghdad over budget dispute
(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Central And Regional Governments Reach Third Oil Deal, But Will It Last?)
(Musings On Iraq Kurds May Be Fighting Losing Battle With Iraq’s Central Government Over Oil Exports)
(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Government Increases Pressure Upon Kurdistan For Its Oil Policy By Threatening To Cut Its Share Of The Budget)
(Musings On Iraq Iraqi Kurdistan’s Failed Independent Oil Strategy)
2012 VP Hashemi went to Qatar violating his arrest warrant
2013 PUK said it would run independently of KDP in next KRG elections PUK said it wanted
to focus upon winning back votes from Gorran
2014 KRG said it would export 100,000 bar/day of oil for Baghdad again to help with
negotiations over oil and budget
2015 UN received reports that govt forces looting and burning homes in Tikrit after it was
liberated
(Musings On Iraq Divisions Over Iraq War Exposed In Victory In Tikrit)
(Musings On Iraq Human Rights Watch Finds Iraq Government Forces Destroyed Tikrit Area After Its Recapture)
2015 Sadr complained about brazen militias and said any that broke law should be brought
to justice Response to Hashd looting and destroying homes in Tikrit area Hashd also his political rivals
(Musings On Iraq Hashd al-Shaabi’s Threat To Iraq’s Established Shiite Religious Parites)
2015 IS released video of Ninewa sheikhs giving it allegiance
2015 Report KRG was $17 bil in debt Couldn’t pay public workers Started large borrowing
2015 Kataib Hezbollah said it was involved in Shjariya op in Anbar Came after pro-Iran
Hashd said it would not take part in Anbar ops due to US involvement in freeing Tikrit
(Musings On Iraq Instrument Of Iran’s Power In Iraq And Syria Kataib Hezbollah)
2016 PM Abadi’s nominee for Oil Minister in new technocratic cabinet withdrew name
saying no consensus on changes to govt
(Musings On Iraq A Review Of Iraq Premier Abadi’s Reform Program Interview With Reidar Visser)
(Musings On Iraq Complaints About Iraq PM Abadi Undermine His Cabinet Reshuffle)
(Musings On Iraq Candidates For Iraq Cabinet Reshuffle Withdrawing)
2016 Maliki faction of State of Law said it would only support partial cabinet change
2016 Kurdish Alliance said if Finance Min Zebari was replaced they would not vote on new
cabinet
2016 Higher Educ Min Shahristani and Foreign Min Jaafari refused to step down for Abadi’s
cabinet changes
2016 Report Asaib Ahl Al-Haq ran Al-Ahd network Major themes Sunnis killed Ali, Hassan
and Hussein and that was reason why Sunnis were killing Shiites today Portrayed most Sunnis as supporting IS Said world was pro-Shiite Said Iraqi state was corrupt and failing Rejected West Threatened those who criticized Hashd
(Musings On Iraq Asaib Ahl Al-Haq From A Breakaway Sadr Militia To Defenders Of Iraq)
2017 Ayad Jumaili aka Abu Yahiya IS war minister killed in Iraqi air force strike in Qaim
Anbar
2017 IS seized control of neighborhood in west Mosul 1st time it had taken any area since
battle for west Mosul began
(Musings On Iraq Mosul campaign Day 166-167 March 31-April 1, 2017)
2018 PM Abadi announced 5 yr economic plan Called for diversification away from oil Expanding agriculture Didn’t happen
2018 PM Abadi’s spokesman said that KRG had to pay govt workers full salaries and end austerity measures because of budget payments from Baghdad KRG Finance Min said govt would start new austerity plans
2018 1000s protested in Irbil Sulaymaniya Diyala against KRG austerity measures due to oil and budget arguments with Baghdad
2018 Report Turkey built 3 new military bases in Kurdistan to fight PKK Turkey had forces in Iraq since 1990s
2019 2nd time PM Abdul Mahdi issued executive order telling Hashd to leave Mosul and
Ninewa Plains Was ignored again
2021 Muthanna activist kidnapped Hashd blamed
(Musings On Iraq UN Report On Violence Against Iraqi Protesters)
(Musings On Iraq United Nations Faults Iraq For Failing To Protect Protesters)
View the Iraq History Timelines
Iraq’s Hashd Bill Will Bring No Real Changes
A new Hashd bill is in parliament right now which is supposed to introduce reforms but will make no real changes. This is part of a process of empty promises by Iraq to curb pro-Iran armed factions to try to appease the new Trump administration.
The new bill is supposed to include all armed groups within the framework of the Hashd. It will also increase the power of the organization making the head of the Hashd Commission a minister and create a deputy minister as well as give it a seat on the National Security Committee. It’s also supposed to set an age limit for membership which will retire some of the force. There was also a controversy over whether Falah Fayad would retain the chairmanship. Asaib Ahl Al-Haq wanted him out but Fayad went to Tehran and got its backing to retain his position.
The bill is a response to threats made by the Trump administration. Washington has warned Baghdad that it must disarm or dismiss the pro-Iran factions or face sanctions. The problem is that the pro-Iran groups are already part of the Hashd so this law will change nothing. In fact it will increase its power within the government with a ministership.
The Hashd has become part of
the corrupt political system and is used by political leaders to increase their
power. For instance the
number of Hashd on the payroll has gone from 122,000 to 238,000 in 2023
despite there being no need for that many since there is no real insurgency in
Iraq anymore. The Hashd positions are used to dish out patronage along with
steal from the budget as there are thousands of ghost Hashd who do not exist
but are used to take their salaries. Hence the Hashd budget has gone from $2.16
billion in 2022 to $3.4 billion in 2024. There is also a company the Hashd run
which allows it to gain government contracts which are also abused for graft. It’s
for that reason that there will be no substantive change in the institution
because the elite will not allow it. Iran also does not want any diminishment of its allies especially after having lost the Assad government in Syria and its setbacks with Hezbollah and Hamas.
The question is how will the White House respond? Will it take some action as progress or will it demand more sweeping change and apply more pressure to achieve it?
SOURCES
Al Aalem, “After conflicting statements by Al-Sudani and Al-Sadiq, entanglement and ambiguity surround the issue of dissolving the Popular Mobilization Forces,” 3/29/25
- “After the Framework announced the merger of factions the latter to cross the stage,” 3/27/25
Al Mada, “After the Iranian Leader’s Speech … The Framework Considers Merging Militias with the Popular Mobilization Forces," 1/12/25
- “New Popular Mobilization Law: Al-Fayad to Remain, Military Academy for Mujahideen,” 3/27/25
- “The Prime Minister disappoints the leaders of the Framework and withdraws the Mobilization Law from Parliament,” 3/13/25
Mahmoud, Sinan, “Iraq moves to give PMF greater role in state security,” The National, 3/25/25
Shafaq News, “Iraq-PMF: Armed factions to be absorbed after Eid,” 3/30/25
This Day In Iraqi History – Mar 31 Iraqi Communist Party founded
1915 UK Foreign Office wrote India Viceroy Lord Hardinge Agreed UK should take Basra
province and perhaps make Baghdad a protectorate
1934 League for Fighting Imperialism created Was start of Iraqi Communist Party
(Musings On Iraq review A People’s History Of Iraq, The Iraqi Communist Party, Workers’ Movements, and the Left 1924-2004)
(Musings On Iraq review Red Star Over Iraq, Iraqi Communism Before Saddam)
(Musings On Iraq A History Of The Iraqi Communist Party Interview With Univ of East Anglia’s Johan Franzen)
1940 Rashid Ali al-Gaylani became PM 2nd of 3 times in deal with Nuri al-Said and Golden Square officers
Attempt by Regent to reconcile two groups
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq Between the Two World Wars, The Militarist Origins of Tyranny)
1941 Pan-Arab Golden Square officers decided to remove PM Hashemi in coup
(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 The Role of the Military In Politics, A case study of Iraq to 1941)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq 1941, The Battles for Basra, Habbaniya, Fallujah and Baghdad)
(Musings On Iraq review Blood, Oil and the Axis: The Allied Resistance Against A Fascist State In Iraq and the Levant, 1941)
(Musings On Iraq review The Modern History of Iraq)
1946 Mullah Mustafa Barzani named general in Mahabad Republic in Iran
(Musings On Iraq Explaining Kurdish Nationalism Interview With Teen Tech Univ Prof Michael Gunter)
1981 Egypt began selling military equipment to Iraq in Iran-Iraq War
1985 Since Jan 1 in Tanker War Iraq hit 30 ships and Iran 7 in Persian Gulf
1985 UN Sec Gen arrived in Iran Told Iraqi air raids killed 1450 civilians and wounded 4000
1988 Iran claimed 44,000 of its troops suffered from Iraqi chemical attacks
(Musings On Iraq Origins Of Iraq’s WMD Programs)
(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Use Of Chemical Weapons In Iran-Iraq War And Their Western Origin)
(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)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 1: The Battle for Khuzestan, September 1980-May 1982)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 2: Iran Strikes back, June 1982-December 1986)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 3: Iraq’s Triumph)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 4: The Forgotten Fronts)
1989 Iraq exported oil for 1st time from Basra after Iran-Iraq War closed down ports
1989 Israel said Iraq embarked on crash course to build a nuclear bomb and a missile to deliver it
1990 Iraqi embassy in London organized protest outside mosque holding service for Observer reporter
Bazoft who was executed by Iraq for reporting on its missile program
1991 Govt op to retake Sulaymaniya from Peshemerga began
(Musings On Iraq interview with National Univ of Singapore’s Fanar Haddad on the Impact of the 1991 Uprising)
(Musings On Iraq Remembering The 1991 Uprising In Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq Saddam’s View of Iraq’s 1991 Uprising)
(Musings On Iraq When The US Helped Start A Rebellion In Iraq That It Didn’t Want)
2000 UN Res 1293 doubled amount of spare parts Iraq could import to maintain its oil industry under Oil
for Food program
2002 PM Blair offered a division and UK bases to US for invasion
(Musings On Iraq review A War Of Choice, The British In Iraq 2003-9)
(Musings On Iraq Review The Report of the Iraq Inquiry, Executive Summary)
(Musings On6 Iraq Chilcot Inquiry Section 6.1 Development of the Military Options for an Invasion of Iraq)
2003 CENTCOM cmdr Gen Franks flew to ground forces cmdr Gen McKiernan’s HQ Grilled him saying only special forces and UK fought so far Franks dismissed Fedayeen as an enemy force Franks said Fedayeen could be easily swept up Said US had to push north and engage Republican Guard Franks also wanted to destroy 2 Iraqi divisions NE of Basra which McKiernan thought no threat
2003 Saddam didn’t give televised speech as expected Instead Information Minister Sahaf did Called on
Iraqis to carry out suicide missions against the invaders
2003 1st car bomb in Iraq hit US checkpoint north of Najaf
2003 Ansar al-Islam issued statement Said it regrouped in north and would carry out
suicide bombings against the Coalition occupation
2003 US forces engaged Fedayeen and Republican Guard south of Baghdad 101st Airborne and 3rd Inf Divs attacked Najaf city 82nd Airborne attacked Samawa to clear them of Fedayeen
(Musings On Iraq US Army History of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter The Invasion of Iraq)
2003 US forces launched raid on Shatra Dhi Qar after receiving information Chemical Ali Hassan al-
Majid was there
2003 British military believed it could start popular uprising in Basra to take city rather than having to
attack it
2003 Sir David Manning told British would have huge shortage of troops for postwar operations in Iraq
2003 UK Foreign Office official wrote For Sec Straw saying Iraqis mistrusted US and US occupation
would be humiliation and untenable
2003 Israeli Infrastructure Min Paritzky said he wanted to reopen Kirkuk-Haifa pipeline by end of 03
Based upon promises made by Chalabi before war he would get Iraq to export oil to Israel
(Musings On Iraq Review Iraq and the Politics of Oil, An Insider’s Perspective)
2003 Def Sec Rumsfeld memo said important to create Iraqi interim authority as quickly as possible so
Iraqis were in power Had to pick pro-US Iraqis Said exiles could be core for new authority because they supported US goals in Iraq
(Musings On Iraq review Leap of Faith, Hubris Negligence, and America’s Greatest Foreign Policy
Tragedy)
(Musings On Iraq review State of Denial, Bush At War, Part III)
(Musings On Iraq review The Endgame, The Inside Story of the Struggle for Iraq, from
George W. Bush to Barack Obama)
(Musings On Iraq review Hard Lessons, The Iraq Reconstruction Experience)
(Musings On Iraq review Night Draws Near, Iraq’s People In The Shadow Of America’s War)
2004 Insurgents ambushed Blackwater convoy and killed 4 contractors in Fallujah 2 were strung up on
bridge
(Musings On Iraq review No True Glory, A Frontline Account of the Battle for Fallujah)
(Musings On Iraq US Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 12 Things Fall Apart Apr 2004)
2004 Bush gave CPA 48 hours to resolve Blackwater attack in Fallujah
(Musings On Iraq review The Battle for Fallujah, Occupation, Resistance and Stalemate in the War in Iraq)
2004 Bush gave speech US would not give into violence in Iraq and fighting terrorism
2004 Sadrists marched to Green Zone in Baghdad to protest US occupation
(Musings On Iraq review The Triumph of the Martyrs, A Reporter’s Journey into Occupied Iraq)
2005 Robb-Silbermann report called US pre-war intel on Iraq one of largest intel failures in US history US data on Iraq was worthless and analysis wrong US lacked significant new intel on Iraq WMD so relied on Gulf War and 90s UN inspections and extrapolated from them Relied upon Iraqi defectors that were lying and ignored problems with their stories Relied upon satellite photos that showed nothing substantive US intel claimed Iraq made WMD advances that were technically impossible US intel ignored reports that Iraq no longer had any WMD UN inspectors disproved most of US case against Iraq’s WMD but were ignored CIA had little on Iraq’s nuke program outside of aluminum tubes but became basis for Oct 02 National Intel Est on Iraq’s WMD Aluminum tubes Iraq tried to buy were for rockets not centrifuges Example of misinterpretation by US Said aluminum tubes was a technical assessment which CIA failed at Went with assumptions rather than facts CIA never looked at Iraqi rockets to see whether they fit aluminum tubes CIA and DIA created theory on tubes that rejected all criticism Report found British and Australian intelligence didn’t believe aluminum tubes were for centrifuges
(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)
(Musings On Iraq review The WMD Mirage, Iraq’s Decade of Deception and America’s False Premise for War)
2005 RAND study showed post-war planning for Iraq was inadequate and never considered security of
Iraqi public
(Musings On Iraq review Hard Lessons, The Iraq Reconstruction Experience)
2006 100 insurgents attacked Muqdadiya police headquarters Killed 19 police and freed 33 prisoners
2007 PM Maliki made 1st trip to Anbar and met with tribal leaders and provincial council who complained
about Baghdad’s neglect
2007 PM Maliki endorsed plan to relocate 1000s of Arabs settled in Kirkuk province during Arabization
program Said would get money and land for leaving Iraqiya opposed plan Never implemented
2007 1920 Revolution Brigades commander said ISI killed one of its leaders leaving it to either fight ISI
or work with US
(Musings On Iraq The Demise But Not Death of Al Qaeda In Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Sunni Insurgency)
(Musings On Iraq review The Caliphate At War, Operational Realities and Innovations of the Islamic State)
2008 Report 103 people killed by ISI found around Zahamm in Diyala River Valley When ISI first
entered village said they were opposing occupation Set up training camp and weapons caches Then began kidnapping and executing people who worked with ISF or didn’t follow rules like banning music smoking wearing the veil breaking curfew Extorted money from residents
2008 PM Maliki said would continue to go after Mahdi Army in Basra that didn’t follow
cease-fire
2008 Interior Min announced 1000s of police would be fired for refusing to fight Mahdi Army in Basra
Baghdad and cities in the south 2 army regiments refused to fight Mahdi Army in Baghdad
2008 Report US special forces in Basra to help with air strikes vs Mahdi Army
2009 British ended military mission in Iraq
(Musings On Iraq Review The Report of the Iraq Inquiry, Executive Summary)
2009 Deadline for power sharing and provincial elections in Kirkuk passed with no progress
(Musings On Iraq Kirkuk Remains In Political Limbo)
2010 VP Hashemi said an Arab should be president no longer a Kurd
2011 Pres Barzani said he would prosecute security members who fired on protesters in Sulaymaniya and
those that led the demonstrations
(Musings On Iraq How Iraq’s Kurdistan Broke Up Two Months Of Protests)
2011 Protests in Kalar, Sulaymaniya became violent with rocks thrown at security forces
(Musings On Iraq interview with journalist Wladimir Van Wilgenburg on 2011 KRG protests)
2011 Report Ugandan company got 146 women to work in Iraq in 2009 Were told they would work at US
army bases Ended up maids for Iraqis Reported abuses including rape One woman got 14 others to escape their employers and into a US base and then home Company was connected to ruling party in Uganda so not held accountable
(Musings On Iraq BBC Reveals Uganda-Iraq Human Trafficking Ring)
2012 Oil Ministry paid oil companies in Kurdistan $650 mil for exports Concession to KRG after it
threatened to stop all exports for Baghdad
(Musings On Iraq Kurds May Be Fighting Losing Battle With Iraq’s Central Government Over Oil Exports)
2012 Audit of State Dept advisory program for Interior Min found 94% of funds went to supporting
personnel and only 6% for the advisers
2014 ISIS released 2nd annual al-Naba report on its operations
2014 Fmr Communications Min Allawi Fmr Finance Min Issawi and 8 general mangers charged with
corruption
2014 Mutahidun claimed 44 civilians killed by Hashd in Buhriz, Diyala with complicity of ISF
2015 PM Abadi announced Tikrit freed from IS Stories emerged of Hashd looting afterward
(Musings On Iraq Divisions Over Iraq War Exposed In Victory In Tikrit)
2015 Diyala council voted to remove confidence from Gov Yacoub for stealing aid for displaced
2016 PM Abadi presented his list of technocratic ministers Sadr called off his protests afterward
(Musings On Iraq Complaints About Iraq PM Abadi Undermine His Cabinet Reshuffle)
(Musings On Iraq Abadi’s Reform Plan Leads To Chaos In Iraq’s Parliament)
(Musings On Iraq interview with Cambridge’s Michael Clark on Sadr, protests and PM Abadi’s reforms)
(Musings On Iraq A Review Of Iraq Premier Abadi’s Reform Program Interview With Reidar Visser)
2016 Dana Gas won lawsuit vs KRG for nonpayment Court ordered KRG to pay $121 mil for oil
production 2015 Dana Gas won 2 cases against KRG for $1.96 bil in unpaid invoices KRG unable to pay due to budget and oil disputes with Baghdad and bad contracts
2016 PUK official said that Kurdish independence was up to the Kurdish people not one party
meaning KDP
(Musings On Iraq Is Kurdistan Serious About Independence From Iraq?)
2017 Report Iraqi govt dropped flyers over Mosul telling people to stay in their homes and shelter
during fighting Now civilians were being killed in air strikes as a result
2017 Turkey said against holding referendum on Kurdish independence
(Musings On Iraq What’s Next For Kurdistan After The Referendum?)
(Musings On Iraq review The Great Betrayal, How America Abandoned The Kurds And Lost The Middle East)
2020 New Iranian Rev Guards Quds Force cmdr Gen Qaani visited Iraq Met with Amiri
Hakim Maliki and Sadr Said Iran wouldn’t interfere in Iraqi politics then said Iran opposed Zurfi becoming PM Zurfi supported protests and criticized pro-Iran Hashd
2020 Report Pro-Iran Hashd controlled Qaim border crossing Used to send foreign fighters
to Syria Kataib Hezbollah main force in Qaim Took 1,600 farms Hashd controlled black market including smuggling fuel to Syria
(Musings On Iraq Expansion of the Hashd al-Shaabi’s influence In Iraq, Interview With Clingendael’s Erwin van Veen)
2024 Court overturned conviction of police officer for assassination of analyst and govt
advisor Hisham al-Hashemi due to lack of evidence Officer was given death penalty but was released instead
View the Iraq History Timelines
This Day In Iraqi History - Mar 30 UK Cairo Conference decided on indirect rule in Iraq Faisal would be made king with pro-UK govt allowing British forces to withdraw
1921 Cairo Conference decided on indirect rule in Iraq Would make Faisal King of a pro-British
Iraqi govt allowing withdrawal of British forces
1921 Cairo Conference decided to keep UK High Commissioner for Iraq British advisers in govt naval
presence in Basra and RAF squadrons in rest of country
(Musings On Iraq How England Chose Feisal As 1st King Of Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review Cairo 1921, Ten Days That Made the Middle East)
(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 The Chatham House Version and other Middle-Eastern Studies)
(Musings On Iraq review When God Made Hell, The British Invasion of Mesopotamia and the Creation of Iraq, 1914-1921)
(Musings On Iraq review Empires of the Sand, The Struggle For Mastery In The Middle East 1789-1923)
(Musings On Iraq review Britain In Iraq, Contriving King and Country)
1939 King Ghazi gave pan-Arab speech saying he was interested in Arab brothers in Syria Palestine
Kuwait
(Musings On Iraq review Imagining The Nation, Nationalism, Sectarianism and Socio-Political Conflict in Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review Unholy Babylon, The Secret History of Saddam’s War)
1939 PM Said said Iraq’s foreign policy based upon alliance with Arab states and ties with UK Said 1 of
strongest proponents of aligning Iraq with UK
1940 Fmr PM Said put together new govt with Rashid Gaylani becoming PM Said became Foreign
Minister Had backing of British
1940 Regent had one of the Golden Square officers ordered to Diwaniya He refused
order Regent was pushed by UK to try to break up pan-Arab officers in army
(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 And Syria 1941, The Politics and Strategy of the Second World War)
(Musings On Iraq review The Role of the Military In Politics, A case study of Iraq to 1941)
(Musings On Iraq review The Modern History of Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq Between the Two World Wars, The Militarist Origins of Tyranny)
1945 UK Ambassador to Iraq Sir Cornwallis wrote he was afraid old Iraqi elite were never going to change
and that would lead to violence between haves and have nots
1948 Coup by Col Zaim in Syria believed to open door for Iraq-Syria unification Didn’t happen
Zaim turned out to be anti-Iraqi
1949 Coup in Syria revived Regent Ilah’s hopes of an Iraq-Syria union which would make him
king of Syria
1963 Kurdish delegation headed by Talabani arrived in Baghdad for more talks about
Kurdish rights Govt refused to meet with Talabani
(Musings On Iraq review The Kurdish Revolt 1961-1970)
1971 Ex-Def Min and VP Tikriti assassinated in Kuwait by Bakr govt
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq Since 1958, From Revolution To Dictatorship)
1980 Govt made membership in Dawa punishable by death
(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)
1982 Saddam admitted that Iraqi forces retreated from southern Iran
1984 UN condemned use of chemical weapons in Iran-Iraq War but didn’t mention Iraq as perpetrator
due to US and Soviet objections
(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)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 1: The Battle for Khuzestan, September 1980-May 1982)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 2: Iran Strikes back, June 1982-December 1986)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 3: Iraq’s Triumph)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 4: The Forgotten Fronts)
1984 US banned export of 5 chemicals to Iraq that could be used to make chemical weapons
(Musings On Iraq Origins Of Iraq’s WMD Programs)
(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Use Of Chemical Weapons In Iran-Iraq War And Their Western Origin)
1990 Report Iraq tried to challenge Israeli military superiority in Middle East by developing nuclear
bomb Dec 89 Iraq launched new long range missile Mar 90 3 people arrested in UK trying to smuggle equipment for program to Iraq Intl Institute for Strategic Studies said program only in theoretical stage Was actually far more advanced than anyone knew
1991 Saddam’s troops re-entered Dohuk and Irbil to put down Kurdish rebellion
(Musings On Iraq review Kurds of Iraq, Tragedy and Hope)
(Musings On Iraq interview with National Univ of Singapore’s Fanar Haddad on the Impact of the 1991 Uprising)
(Musings On Iraq Remembering The 1991 Uprising In Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq Saddam’s View of Iraq’s 1991 Uprising)
1991 Majid al-Khoei son of Grand Ayatollah al-Khoei met with Saudi intelligence and was turned down
for aid to help uprising because US objected
(Musings On Iraq When The US Helped Start A Rebellion In Iraq That It Didn’t Want)
1995 INC and PUK attacked Iraqi forces in Kirkuk district destroying 2 brigades hoping to create a revolt
against Saddam
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq In The Eye of the Storm)
2002 Gen Franks presented new revised Iraq war plan to Bush
(Musings On Iraq review Shaping the Plan for Operation Iraqi Freedom, The Role of Military Intelligence Assessment)
2003 US restarted advance on Baghdad after stop for supplies 3rd Inf Div cleared Kifl Najaf
2003 British began 2nd attack to take Basra city with 600 commandos attacking western Abu al-Kacib
(Musings On Iraq review Target Basra, The High Octane Story of the Royal Marine Commandos In Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review Voices From Iraq, A People’s History, 2003-2009)
(Musings On Iraq review Burning Horizon, British Veteran Accounts Of The Iraq War 2003)
2003 UK Defense Minister Hoon told US didn't think taking Basra City important US wanted UK to hold
south oil fields and Um Qasr port
2003 US intensified air strikes on Republican Guard units with 800 sorties PUK and 10th Special Forces
Group took Ansar al-Islam camp in Halabja Most of Ansar fled to Iran
2003 Saddam believed U.S. invasion was stalemated
2003 Saddam’s secretary told Iraqi Foreign Ministry to tell France and Russia Iraq would only accept an
unconditional withdrawal by U.S.
2003 Iraqi Republican Guard II Corps cmdr Gen Hamdani asked Qusay if he could defend Karbala Gap where US forces were going to move through during advance on Baghdad Chief of Staff of Republican Guard criticized him
2003 Iraqi TV aired footage of Saddam Qusay and Uday handing out medals and money to soldiers
2003 Sec Def Rumsfeld told ABC that US knew exactly where Iraq’s WMD were Claimed they were
around Tikrit and Baghdad
(Musings On Iraq How The Administration Reversed Itself On Finding Iraq’s WMD)
(Musings On Iraq review What Happened, Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception)
2003 Sec Def Rumsfeld accused Syria of giving military aid to Iraq Syria claimed US committed crimes
vs Iraqi civilians
2003 Dep Sec of Def Wolfowtiz said Iraq war about WMD and that they would eventually be found
(Musings On Iraq Iraq One Of The Worst Intelligence Failures In US History)
2003 PM Blair foreign policy adv Sir Manning worried that Baghdad when attacked could turn into
drawn out urban battle
2003 Pentagon memo on creating an Iraqi authority after war Said had to be friendly to the US Had to
end Sunni rule Wanted rule of law individual liberty representative govt private enterprise Didn’t say how that was to be achieved
(Musings On Iraq review Leap of Faith, Hubris Negligence, and America’s Greatest Foreign Policy Tragedy)
(Musings On Iraq review State of Denial, Bush At War, Part III)
(Musings On Iraq review The Endgame, The Inside Story of the Struggle for Iraq, from
George W. Bush to Barack Obama)
(Musings On Iraq review Hard Lessons, The Iraq Reconstruction Experience)
2003 SCIRI head Ayatollah Hakim told followers in south Iraq that they shouldn’t support Coalition invasion Demanded foreign troops leave Iraq as soon as possible Warned of armed struggle if they turned into occupiers
2003 CENTCOM issued order to disarm Badr members who were in the streets Not enforced
2004 New Iraq Survey Group head Duelfer told Congress most important work not done Still looking for
critical Iraqis involved in WMD program Said found equipment to make biological and chemical agents Couldn’t rule out what aluminum tubes were for Contradicted much of what Survey Group discovered 3 top inspectors quit to protest Duelfer’s remarks
2006 Report Albu Mahal tribe went from insurgency to fighting Al Qaeda in Iraq after objected to Islamic
law being imposed Tribe entered into months of fighting with Salmani and Karabila tribes allied with Al Qaeda in Iraq in WAnbar Qaim dist Was expelled Albu Mahal went to US Formed Desert Protectors Got tribesmen join Iraqi army
(Musings On Iraq US Army History of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 17 Innovation In The Face Of War, Summer-Fall 2005)
(Musings On Iraq Anbar Before And After The Awakening Pt IX: Sheikh Sabah Aziz Of The Albu Mahal)
(Musings On Iraq Understanding Anbar Before And After The Awakening Part V Sheikh Jassim Mohammed Salah al-Suwaidi And Sheikh Abdul Rahman al-Janabi)
(Musings On Iraq The Demise But Not Death of Al Qaeda In Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq How A Change In Perceptions Led To The Anbar Awakening)
(Musings On Iraq interview with author Carter Malkasian on Anbar Awakening)
(Musings On Iraq review Confronting Al Qaeda, The Sunni Awakening and American Strategy In Al Anbar)
(Musings On Iraq review 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)
(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 Op Call to Freedom ended effectively clearing Ramadi of insurgents
2007 Report Ali Salah WBaghdad only had 3 Sunni families left after militias forced out rest in March
despite US and Iraqi units in area during Surge
(Musings On Iraq review Voices From Iraq, A People’s History, 2003-2009)
(Musings On Iraq Columbia University Charts Sectarian Cleansing Of Baghdad)
2008 Sadr announced ceasefire in fight vs ISF Mahdi Army handed over weapons to ISF in 2 Baghdad
neighborhoods Deal worked out between Dawa ISCI Badr and Sadr with Iran Rev Guards Quds Force cmdr Gen Suleimani as moderator
(Musings On Iraq Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ Commander General Suleimani And His Role In Iraq, An Interview With The New Yorker’s Dexter Filkins)
(Musings On Iraq Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s History In Iraq, Interview With Naval Postgraduate School’s Afshon Ostovar)
(Musings On Iraq review Vanguard of the Imam, Religion, Politics, and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard)
2008 Fighting continued in Babil and Karbala between ISF and Mahdi Army Green Zone hit by
rockets
2008 UK report situation in Basra unchanged during Charge of Knights Said ISF had no coherent
plan and morale low
2008 Report PM Maliki was shocked that his offensive in Basra caused fighting throughout south and
Baghdad Was actually warned by ISF that would happen beforehand but he ignored it
2008 Tribes in Dhi Qar and Dulaim in Wasit joined govt in crackdown against Mahdi Army
(Musings On Iraq Argument For Maliki Being Iraq’s Next Strongman)
(Musings On Iraq Disputes Over Tribal Support Councils)
2008 ISCI held pro-govt demonstration in Karbala against Sadr
2009 Report 200 Sadrists broke away from Sadr PM Maliki gave amnesty to Sadrists and
Special Groups Supposed to be for reconciliation but was Maliki trying to split Sadrists
2009 PUK co-founder and media mogul Mustafa said his Gorran party would run in KRG
elections
2009 Report PM Maliki had sahwa leaders in Baghdad and Diyala arrested
2011 Accountability and Justice Comm ruled PM Maliki’s nominees for Interior and Defense Ministers
were disqualified for Baathist past
2011 Turkey’s Erdogan went on tour of Iraq to Baghdad 1st Sunni leader to go to Najaf shrine 1st Turkish
leader to go to Irbil
2011 Report Small/medium sized business hardly developed in Iraq due to high start up costs Lack of govt
support Power and water shortages Security High tariffs Iraq had 35000 industrial projects 85% of them idle The 15% that operated worked at 20% capacity
2011 Report Iraqiya head Allawi refused to lead National Council for Strategic Policies which was part of
power sharing agreement to get PM Maliki 2nd term
2012 Pres Barzani said PM Maliki becoming authoritarian Criticized Maliki for holding all security
positions Said didn’t follow power sharing agreement
(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Premier And Kurdistan’s President Spar Over Weapons As Part Of Larger Political Dispute)
(Musings On Iraq How The No Confidence Move Against Iraq’s Premier Split The Kurdish Parties)
(Musings On Iraq Argument For Maliki Being Iraq’s Next Strongman)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq After America, Strongmen, Sectarians, Resistance)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq From War To A New Authoritarianism)
(Musings On Iraq Is Iraq’s Prime Minister Becoming A Dictator? An Interview With Kirk Sowell Of Inside Iraqi Politics)
(Musings On Iraq Is Iraq’s Prime Minister Maliki More Like Premier Nuri al-Sa’id Than Saddam? An Interview With Historian Phebe Marr)
2012 MP on energy committee said electricity shortages would be worse in 2012 than 2011 Said power
production would only be slightly up by 2014 Came after Dep PM Shahristani said that Iraq would become self-sufficient in power by end of 2013
(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Parliament And Cabinet Argue Over Future Electricity Output)
(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Government Failing Again To Solve Country’s Power Outages)
2012 Report KDP training Syrian Kurds to return to Syria and fight
(Musings On Iraq Explaining Iraqi Kurdistan’s Policy Towards Syria, Interview With Wladimir van Wilgenburg)
2013 Report banks in Sulaymaniya facing crisis Couldn’t pay govt workers Couldn’t cash large checks
Stories that PUK leadership taking money out of banks and placing it elsewhere Part of financial crisis due to dispute with Baghdad over oil and budget
2014 ISIS held parade in Abu Ghraib
2016 Kurdish Alliance said they would not give up any of their ministers in PM Abadi’s reform program
(Musings On Iraq A Review Of Iraq Premier Abadi’s Reform Program Interview With Reidar Visser)
2016 Report Unaoil paid bribes to Iraqi officials to get its clients contracts Hosted Oil Ministry
official and said ministry should charge inflated prices on products so they could steal the money Oil official agreed Every drum of oil bought by Weatherford Unaoil involved kickbacks to senior officials Officials told Unaoil about upcoming deals so that clients could win them Unaoil made payoffs to Eni and BP Paid $1 mil bribe for Petrofac and SBM to win contract at Gharraf oil field
(Musings On Iraq Corruption In Iraq An Interview With Stuart Bowen Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction)
(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Trouble Fighting Corruption Interview With Vincent Foulk Former US Anti-Graft Official)
2017 KRG spokesman told newspaper it was time for KRG to divorce from rest of Iraq
(Musings On Iraq review The Great Betrayal, How America Abandoned The Kurds And Lost The Middle East)
2018 Report Anbar council accused Hashd of blocking displaced from returning to Khalidiya Island Ramadi dist Extorting people
2019 Report Abdul Mahdi govt not spending on rebuilding war torn areas Mosul needed est $2 bil
for rebuilding All of Ninewa only got $250 mil in 2019 budget Anbar got $150 mil Salahaddin got $170 mil Baghdad hadn’t sent budgets to provinces yet Provinces only had until end of 2019 to spend money otherwise went back to Baghdad
2019 Speaker Halbusi said would take until 2022 to lesson Iraq’s dependency upon electricity imports Asked
US for 3 yrs waivers on Iranian sanctions as a result By 2022 Iraq still dependent on Iranian energy
View the Iraq History Timelines
This Day In Iraqi History - Mar 29 Sayid Salih Jabr became Iraq’s first Shiite PM
1946 Iraq-Turkey Friendship Treaty Would cooperate over Tigris and Euphrates security
education communication economies
1947 Sayid Salih Jabr became premier 1st Shiite PM Offered reform program Was actually picked by ex-
PM Said to continue his program revising 1930 Anglo-Iraq Treaty
(Musings On Iraq review The Chatham House Version and other Middle-Eastern Studies)
1970 New cabinet announced and 5 Kurds included as ministers
(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 Iraq Since 1958, From Revolution To Dictatorship)
1982 Iraq set up new defensive line 6 miles from Maysan border Iran attacked towards Fakkeh breaking
through Iraqi lines Broken up by air strikes Lost 100 tanks Forced to retreat Ended Iranian Op Fath Iraq lost 8000 dead 12000 wounded 13000-20000 captured 400 tanks 3 divisions destroyed Iran lost 4,000 dead, 12,000 wounded, 200 tanks and APCs
(Musings On Iraq review Iran-Iraq War Volume 4: The Forgotten Fronts)
1982 Saddam offered to withdraw to international border between Iran-Iraq Rejected by Iran
1984 US intel found Iraq buying equipment from West German company to make chemical weapons W.
Germany denied story
(Musings On Iraq When The World Remembered It Armed The New Hitler Saddam)
(Musings On Iraq Origins Of Iraq’s WMD Programs)
(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Use Of Chemical Weapons In Iran-Iraq War And Their Western Origin)
1984 US intel reported Iraq had 5 sites producing chemical weapons for Iran-Iraq War
(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)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 1: The Battle for Khuzestan, September 1980-May 1982)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 2: Iran Strikes back, June 1982-December 1986)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 3: Iraq’s Triumph)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 4: The Forgotten Fronts)
1987 Ali Hassan al-Majid given special powers over all govt agencies in northern Iraq to deal with Kurds
(Musings On Iraq Pres Bakr, Saddam, And Iraq’s Kurds Before The Anfal Campaign)
1991 Iraqi troops recaptured Kirkuk from Kurdish rebels Iraqi troops captured Tanuma, Basra from rebels
(Musings On Iraq interview with National Univ of Singapore’s Fanar Haddad on the Impact of the 1991 Uprising)
(Musings On Iraq Remembering The 1991 Uprising In Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq Saddam’s View of Iraq’s 1991 Uprising)
(Musings On Iraq When The US Helped Start A Rebellion In Iraq That It Didn’t Want)
1994 Saddam became prime minister of Iraq
2002 Gen Franks briefed military service chiefs on Iraq war planning
(Musings On Iraq review Leap of Faith, Hubris Negligence, and America’s Greatest Foreign Policy
Tragedy)
(Musings On Iraq review Shaping the Plan for Operation Iraqi Freedom, The Role of Military Intelligence Assessment)
2003 UK Embassy in Washington reported Bush mad at press reports invasion not going according to
plan
2003 1st Suicide bomber in Iraq war hits US checkpoint in Najaf killing 4 soldiers
(Musings On Iraq review Suicide Bombers In Iraq, The Strategy and Ideology of Martyrdom)
2003 Iraq VP Ramadan said suicide bombers would become routine in Iraq and threatened England and
US with them
2003 VP Ramadan said that foreign fighters had arrived in Iraq to help defend it against Americans
2003 Iraqi govt removed commander of Iraqi air defense in Baghdad after missiles misfired and hit the
capital
2003 Iraq fired 2 SCUDS at Kuwait but shot down by US Patriot missiles
2003 British army took Abu al-Khasib, Basra
(Musings On Iraq review Burning Horizon, British Veteran Accounts Of The Iraq War 2003)
2003 Red Cross met with UK cmdr Gen Brims and top military lawyer in Iraq Said they filed formal complaint about conditions at prison camp in Basra Gen Brims said UK was doing its job Lawyer was told not to talk about his complaints such as hooding prisoners and tribunals After meeting lawyer personally met with Red Cross and listed his problems
Mar 29 Top UK military lawyer in Iraq told UK cmdr Gen Brims to take action at prison camp in Basra Officer said hooding prisoners covered in document but wasn’t Wasn’t until Brims’ PR officer said there might be a controversy that Brims decided to ban hooding Didn’t end
2004 20,000 Sadrists protested closing of their paper al-Hawza outside Green Zone Rocks thrown US
opened fire 2 Iraqis killed Also protest in Nasiriya
2006 US intel report said 1707 Sunni and Shiite families moved in Baghdad after Samarra bombing
Mahdi Army kidnapping and executing people
(Musings On Iraq review Voices From Iraq, A People’s History, 2003-2009)
(Musings On Iraq Columbia University Charts Sectarian Cleansing Of Baghdad)
2007 Operation Alljah launched to clear insurgents from Fallujah
2007 ISI began withdrawing from Ramadi leading to large drop in attacks
2007 2 suicide car bombs at Baghdad market killed 82 and wounded 100
(Musings On Iraq review Voices From Iraq, A People’s History, 2003-2009)
(Musings On Iraq review Suicide Bombers In Iraq, The Strategy and Ideology of Martyrdom)
2007 National Police kidnapped 5 British security guards from Eastern Baghdad
2007 New US Amb Ryan Crocker arrived in Iraq
2007 Justice Min Shibli said govt approved recommendation that Article140 by implemented on future of
Kirkuk Nothing came of it
2008 PM Maliki’s deadline for militias to turn over weapons ended with few complying Was extended
until Apr 8
2008 Defense Min Obeidi said Charge of Knights had not gone as planned Was shocked by resistance
by Mahdi Army
(Musings on Iraq US Army In The Iraq War Volume 2 Chapter 8 Crescendo: Maliki Against The Sadrists)
2008 Sadr said he was talking with Ayatollah Sistani to negotiate ceasefire with PM Maliki Also called
for Qais Khazali and Asaib Ahl Al-Haq to rejoin his organization
(Musings On Iraq Asaib Ahl Al-Haq From A Breakaway Sadr Militia To Defenders Of Iraq)
2008 PM Maliki delegation met with Sadr in Iran to work out ceasefire in Basra
2008 Gen Petraeus told Maliki govt had set goals in Basra it couldn’t achieve Natl Sec Adv Rubaie told UK
official PM Maliki had been led by his advisers into starting Charge of Knights by telling him Basra in more desperate situation than it was in
2008 More police in Basra switched sides to Mahdi Army Reports more than 100 police fired in Basra
due to losing weapons and fleeing
2008 Nasiriya retaken from Mahdi Army Fighting between ISF and Mahdi Army in Karbala Babil
Baghdad
2008 UK started air strikes on Mahdi Army in Barsa US carried out air strikes in Basra and Sadr City
2008 Rockets fired at Green Zone by Mahdi Army
2008 Report Iraqi army had no artillery planning communications system logistics transportation
service hospitals
2009 Provincial election results announced State of Law won 126 of 440 seats 28% ISCI went from 200
to 50 seats
(Musings On Iraq Official Iraqi Election Results)
(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s New Provincial Councils – Update)
(Musings On Iraq Governors, Heads of Councils, and Ruling Coalitions In Iraq’s Provinces)
2009 Maliki govt talking with Asaib Ahl Al-Haq to get 5 Brit hostages released Iraq UK US Iran
Hezbollah worked out deal to release Brits in return for AAH leaders Qais and Laith Khazali 300 AHH members Iranian operatives Hezbollah’s Daqduq held by US
(Musings On Iraq 2007 Political Kidnappings In Iraq Involving Asaib Ahl Al-Haq)
(Musings On Iraq Sadr Tries To Reconcile With Breakaway League Of The Righteous)
(Musings On Iraq New Challenges To Sadr’s Leadership)
(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 PKK rejected call by Pres Talabani and Pres Barzani to disarm
2009 Sahwa in Dora Baghdad protested over not getting paid by govt
(Musings On Iraq Budget Problems Affecting Integration of Sons of Iraq)
2009 US and ISF disarmed Sahwa in Fadhil Baghdad after fighting broke out day before when its
commander arrested
(Musings On Iraq Sons of Iraq Integration Update)
2010 Peshmerga withdrew from Jalawla Diyala after argument over control of disputed areas with
Maliki govt
2010 Panel of experts and oil executives said impossible for Iraq to reach 10-12 mil/bar/day in
production in 10 years as Oil Ministry claimed Iraq didn’t reach that mark
(Musings On Iraq More Analysts Say That Iraq’s Oil Goals Are Too Ambitious)
2011 ISI attacked Tikrit provincial council building dressed in ISF uniforms Took people hostage 3
councilmen executed Then killed themselves and all hostages with suicide belts 55 dead 95 wounded
(Musings On Iraq Iraq Insurgents Aim To Grab Headlines Again With Attack Upon Salahaddin Provincial Council Building)
2011 Parliament human rights committee found chronic abuses in Diyala prisons including torture
2011 Opposition parties boycotted KRG parliament because govt hadn’t responded to protest demands
(Musings On Iraq interview with journalist Wladimir Van Wilgenburg on 2011 KRG protests)
2011 Turkish Premier Erdogan went to Kurdistan 1st Turkish leader to visit region
(Musings On Iraq review Turkey, the US and Iraq)
2011 Justice Min said that all prisoners at secret prison at Camp Honor would be transferred to prisons
run by ministry PM Maliki claimed there were no secret prisons or any abuse
2011 Report 70% of people in KRG either worked for govt or received state subsidies
2011 PM Maliki said he wanted a majority govt Said national unity govt a mockery
2012 Report Govt went after insurgent financing in Mosul ISI said to earn $200,000/mo from
extorting businesses Private generators had to pay $200/mo Pharmacies had to pay $100/mo Sources said Asiacell paid ISI Built towers on property owned by ISI
(Musings On Iraq Analyzing The Finances Of Al Qaeda In Iraq Interview With RAND’s Patrick Johnson)
2013 Iraqiya MP from Anbar said Salah al-Mutlaq betrayed the list Made fun of him after Anbar
protesters ran him off
2014 Protest in Babil against worsening security due to ISIS ISIS threatened Qara Tappa Diyala 100s fled
10 villages as a result
(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Southern Front Babil Province Where The Islamic State Has Free Reign)
2015 Most Hashd had pulled out of Tikrit op to protest US airstrikes PM Abadi met with them to
hear their complaints
(Musings On Iraq Divisions Over Iraq War Exposed In Victory In Tikrit)
2015 Hashd claimed U.S. bombed Hashd and Federal Police in 3 parts of Tikrit Part of pro-Iran groups
propaganda vs US
2015 Asaib Ahl Al-Haq said it would not join future ops in Anbar and Ninewa if US involved It did
(Musings On Iraq Asaib Ahl Al-Haq From A Breakaway Sadr Militia To Defenders Of Iraq)
2015 Report Hashd assassinated two aides to Diyala governor to warn him to work with it or else Badr’s
Amiri in charge of security in Diyala Hashd had blown up houses in two towns in March
2016 Deadline set by Sadr for PM Abadi to announce new technocratic cabinet
(Musings On Iraq Why Did Sadr Take Over The Green Zone? Interview With Cambridge’s Michael Clark)
(Musings On Iraq A Review Of Iraq Premier Abadi’s Reform Program Interview With Reidar Visser)
2017 Report Sec State Tillerson told anti-IS conference US was not into nation building or
reconstruction Tillerson wanted US to withdraw from Iraq after war with IS ended Def Sec Mattis and National Sec Adv McMaster wanted continued US presence
2017 Ninewa health official said 250 bodies had been pulled from building hit in US airstrike in Mosul
2017 US Gen Votel said 490 ISF killed and 3,000 wounded taking East Mosul from IS
(Musings On Iraq Mosul Campaign Day 164-65, March 29-30, 2017)
2017 Report Battles of Fallujah Ramadi Tikrit Baiji Iraqi forces allowed escape route for IS to flee
When east Mosul attacked allowed IS to retreat to west Mosul Now not happening in West Mosul Iranians and Hashd allies didn’t want IS to escape to Syria
2017 Report PM Abadi said any group that used arms outside govt were outlaws Warning
to Hashd Hezbollah al-Nujaba created Golan Liberation Brigade Said it would fight Israel and Turkey Said it would never give up weapons as long as region threatened
(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Sheikh Akram Al-Kaabi and Hezbollah al-Nujaba)
2018 Report Hashd taking people’s voting cards Let some displaced return home if agreed to vote for Hashd Threatened to expel others if didn’t vote for them
2018 Human Rights Watch accused govt of covering up execution of IS detainees in Mosul Removed 80 bodies thought to be IS prisoners from house and burned it
2020 Report When COVID hit Iraq Health Min asked for $5 mil in emergency funds Abdul
Mahdi govt didn’t have money Curfew closed down many businesses and left non-govt workers unemployed Govt ran $2 bil/mo deficit
(Musings On Iraq Iraq Faces The Abyss With Coronavirus And Oil Collapse)
2021 Report Competition to get security contracts for convoys carrying supplies for US Some
attacks on convoys part of negotiations to get hired Security companies connected to political parties Gang connected to Asaib Ahl Al-Haq arrested in Basra for bombing convoys but more than half escaped thanks to AAH
2023 Report Wars devastated Iraq’s infrastructure Made it more vulnerable to climate change Temps
continue to rise and water declining leading to constant droughts Water reserve down 50% in 2023 New Turkish dam cut 60% of water down Tigris Dried up wetlands in south Iraq Rising temps and droughts also increased sand/dust storms Environ Min said sand/dust storms increasing each yr Most farming based upon small farms that rely upon rain Declining due to droughts Led to desertification Iraq losing 100 sq km of arable land Desertification forcing farmers to abandon land and move to cities Oil dependency led Iraq to ignore climate change Failed to capture natural gas created at oil wells Releases carbon emissions that increase global warming and Iraq’s temperature and water problems Oil companies have refused to follow rules on gas emissions
View the Iraq History Timelines
Review Nicholas Schlosser, U.S. Marines in Battle, Al-Qaim, September 2005-March 2006, Marine Corps University, 2014
Schlosser, Nicholas, U.S. Marines in Battle, Al-Qaim, September 2005-March 2006, Marine Corps University, 2014
U.S. Marines in Battle, Al-Qaim, September 2005-March 2006 is one of the better volumes in the Marine history of the Iraq War series. That’s because it includes both background and the aftermath to the Marine deployment to western Iraq. It’s main argument is that how the Marines stayed in cities while working with the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) and local tribes starting in 2005 created a new dynamic that would dramatically change the security situation in Anbar province in the following years.
The book covers the Marines’ 3rd Battalion while they were deployed to the Qaim district from September 2005-March 20006. The district stretches along the northern border of Anbar governorate and Syria. It was an important battlefield because Al Qaeda in Iraq used it to bring in foreign fighters, material and money from Syria.
The author notes that there was no unified strategy in Iraq at that time leaving individual commanders to come up with their own. Starting in 2004 the Marines wanted to focus upon protecting the population and dividing them from the insurgents. They never had the opportunity to do that because they were ordered to attack Fallujah twice that year leading to all their focus upon clearing and holding that city. It’s important to bring up the lack of any overall plan for Iraq because the Bush administration was always pushing victory in the war but it had no strategy on how to achieve it.
Not only that but there were not enough troops to secure all of Anbar. Qaim is roughly the size of the state of South Carolina but there was only one battalion for the entire area. In the early years of the occupation all the Marines could do was clear out one town of militants and then move onto the next allowing the insurgents to infiltrate back in later on. This was criticized as a whack a mole strategy. It was also a fatal flaw of the occupation from the start as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld wanted as few troops in the invasion force as possible and then wanted out of Iraq as soon as it was over.
Most of the book is about when the 3rd Battalion arrived in Qaim in late 2005 and how they attempted a new policy. First, it conducted house to house clearing operations in some of the major towns in the district to force out the insurgents. The Marines then set up outposts inside the towns to give them a permanent presence. They partnered up with the local Iraqi army and police units to conduct joint operations with them. This helped with intelligence but also proved a problem as almost all the soldiers were Shiites and were resented by the Sunnis of Qaim. Finally, the 3rd Battalion exploited a rift that had developed between some tribes and Al Qaeda in Iraq. They got the tribes to join the security forces greatly expanding their number and how much territory they could cover. The combination of all these factors meant that the militants could no longer operate in the towns and cities in the district with the freedom that they had before and lost many of their allies.
What sets Al-Qaim apart from others in the Marine series on Iraq is that it covers the history and consequences of 3rd Battalion’s time in Anbar. For instance it talks about how tribes were empowered by Saddam after the Gulf War and became a power onto themselves which was then disrupted after the 2003 invasion. More importantly the author discusses how the Marine action in Qaim set the stage for turning around security in all of Anbar. In 2006 Marines in Ramadi used the model set in Qaim to start working with sheikhs which led to the Anbar Awakening. This eventually forced Al Qaeda out of the most of the urbanized areas of the province. Other books in the series are just military histories talking about specific battles and deployments and has little to no context on why it was important or how they shaped the larger war.
U.S. Marines in Battle, Al-Qaim, September 2005-March 2006 covers a turning point in the Iraq War that is usually missed. There are plenty of books about the Anbar Awakening but few talk about how the events in Qaim set the stage for it. Schlosser does a good job explaining what Anbar was like before the Americans occupied Iraq and how things were changed after 2003. This set the stage for the 6th Battalion’s time in the district. Just as important the authors talks about why this period was important for the larger war and how it began the process of securing Anbar province.
Link to all of Musings On Iraq’s book reviews listed by topic
This Day In Iraqi History - Mar 28 2 truck bombs in Tal Afar left 499 casualties Militias and police killed 70 in revenge
1918 British took Ana
1940 Nuri al-Said convinced Golden Square officers to back Gaylani to be next PM Said would
become Foreign Minister
(Musings On Iraq review Rashid Ali al-Gailani, The National Movement in Iraq 1939-1941)
(Musings On Iraq review The Role of the Military In Politics, A case study of Iraq to 1941)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq Between the Two World Wars, The Militarist Origins of Tyranny)
1964 Arif announced Arab Socialist Union party which was to unite all factions in Iraq
Kurds refused to join
1987 Saddam was told 24,952 soldiers had deserted from 12/1/86-3/20/87 in Basra
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq in Wartime, Soldiering, Martyrdom, and Remembrance)
(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)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 1: The Battle for Khuzestan, September 1980-May 1982)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 2: Iran Strikes back, June 1982-December 1986)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 3: Iraq’s Triumph)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 4: The Forgotten Fronts)
1990 US-UK officials seized equipment at Heathrow Airport meant for nuclear triggers
headed to Iraq Equipment came from California Was financed by BNL Bank in Atlanta
1991 SCIRI head Hakim said Shiite rebels in south only fighting in rural areas after lost cities to Iraqi
army
(Musings On Iraq interview with National Univ of Singapore’s Fanar Haddad on the Impact of the 1991 Uprising)
1991 Iraqi intelligence memo said it had contacts with bin Laden
1995 KDP accused PUK of attacking parliament building in Irbil city
1997 Sec of State Albright said Iraq had lied and blocked UN inspections Said inspections and sanctions
had contained 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 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)
(Musings On Iraq review Neighbors, Not Friends, Iraq And Iran After The Gulf Wars)
(Musings On Iraq review Invisible War, The United States And The Iraq Sanctions)
(Musings On Iraq review The Regime Change Consensus, Iraq In American Politics 1990-2003)
(Musings On Iraq How Did America Move From Containing Saddam To Removing Him? Interview With Joseph Stieb Asst Prof at the US Naval War College)
1998 UN Res 1154 okayed agreement between UN Sec Gen and Iraq to allow inspectors into presidential
palaces and other sites
(Musings On Iraq Charles Duelfer’s Account Of The End Of The 1990s U.N. Inspections)
2002 Arab League called on Iraq to comply with all UN resolutions and end sanctions Rejected military
action
2002 Gen Franks briefed Joint Chiefs on Iraq war plans Said he would be ready by 10/1/02
(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 Gen Wallace Cmdr US V Corps told press war not going as planned due to resistance of Fedayeen Def Sec Rumsfeld asked if Wallace fit for command Wanted him relieved of duty Wasn’t
2003 Royal Marines attacked Abu al-Khasib Basra city suburb
(Musings On Iraq review Target Basra, The High Octane Story of the Royal Marine Commandos In Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review Voices From Iraq, A People’s History, 2003-2009)
(Musings On Iraq review Burning Horizon, British Veteran Accounts Of The Iraq War 2003)
2003 US 173rd Airborne Brigade and Peshmerga took Irbil 101st Airborne Div sent to clear Najaf city
(Musings On Iraq interview with Kevin Petit of 173rd Airborne Brigade)
2003 PUK and 10th Special Forces Group began main attack upon Ansar al-Islam camp in Halabja
(Musings On Iraq review Special Operations Forces in Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq Why Didn’t Bush Strike Zarqawi And Ansar al-Islam In 2002?)
2003 US and UK military meeting Surprised Iraqis weren’t rising up against Saddam
2003 UN Res 1472 extended Oil for Food program for 45 days after US invasion
2003 US forces received warning of imminent WMD attack
2003 Sec Def Rumsfeld accused Syria of sending military aid to Iraq British accused Syria of allowing
foreign fighters to use its territory to enter Iraq
2003 Chief weapons inspector Blix said US gave up on inspections in early 2003
2003 Aid ship arrived in Um Qasr Basra with 200 tons of food medicine and blankets for Iraqis
2003 Bush told group of veterans important to win the peace after the war
2004 CPA shut down Sadr’s al-Hawza paper for inciting violence Helped lead to Sadrist uprising
(Musings On Iraq A Divided Sadr Trend)
(Musings On Iraq US Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 12 Things Fall Apart Apr 2004)
2006 Anbar Revenge Brigade claimed it killed 4 Al Qaeda in Iraq leaders and a member of Ansar al-
Sunna
(Musings On Iraq The Demise But Not Death of Al Qaeda In Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq How A Change In Perceptions Led To The Anbar Awakening)
(Musings On Iraq interview with author Carter Malkasian on Anbar Awakening)
(Musings On Iraq review Confronting Al Qaeda, The Sunni Awakening and American Strategy In Al Anbar)
(Musings On Iraq review 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)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Sunni Insurgency)
2007 ISI set off chlorine bomb at Fallujah government center
2007 2 truck bombs hit market targeting Shiite Turkmen in Tal Afar 152 dead 347 wounded Militias and
police went through Sunni district of town dragging people out of homes Executed up to 70 in the streets Wounded 30 Kidnapped 40 Iraqi army arrived and got into shootout with police until revenge killings ended
(Musings On Iraq review The ISIS Reader, Milestone Texts of the Islamic State Movement)
2007 Report Iraqi observatory group said one prison in Mahmudiya held 705 Built to hold 75 Another
prison at Muthanna Air Base held 272 built for 50 Said ISF making mass arrests under Baghdad security plan but few released leading to overcrowding
2007 Saudi King Abdullah at Arab summit said Iraq was under an illegal foreign occupation
2008 Report Govt invoking Sec 136B to avoid corruption cases Interior Min Bolani used it to stop case
against Gen Gharwari who ran secret prison in Baghdad Also used to stop 11 cases against ministers and Central Bank of Iraq
(Musings On Iraq Corruption In Iraq An Interview With Stuart Bowen Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction)
(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Trouble Fighting Corruption Interview With Vincent Foulk Former US Anti-Graft Official)
2008 Report ISF made little progress in Basra 100s of police in city switched sides and joined Mahdi
Army
(Musings on Iraq US Army In The Iraq War Volume 2 Chapter 8 Crescendo: Maliki Against The Sadrists)
2008 UK report Charge of Knights op in Basra stalemated and likely protracted fight
2008 PM Maliki extended deadline for militias to turn over weapons in Basra until Apr 8
2008 US carried out air strikes in support of Charge of Knights campaign in Basra for 1st time
2008 Presidential Council KDP and PUK said they supported Charge of Knights campaign vs Sadr
2008 1000s marched in Sadr City calling for removal of PM Maliki
2008 Badr offices in Amarah Maysan attacked Sadrists arrested in Babil and Qadisiyah Mahdi Army
seized control of Nasiriya and Shatra in Dhi Qar Fighting in 13 parts of Baghdad
2008 Rockets fired at Green Zone by Mahdi Army
2008 Pres Talabani met with Iranian Rev Guards Quds Force Cmdr Gen Suleimani about stopping
fighting between govt and Mahdi Army
(Musings On Iraq Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ Commander General Suleimani And His Role In Iraq, An Interview With The New Yorker’s Dexter Filkins)
2009 Counterterrorism Unit arrested Fadhil Sahwa leader in Baghdad on terrorism charges leading to
gun battle
(Musings On Iraq Sons of Iraq Integration Update)
2010 4 Sunni winners from Iraqiya in Diyala targeted by Maliki govt 1 arrested 2 on the run 4th
fate unknown Accused of terrorism Maliki had been going after Sunni politicians in Diyala since 2008
2011 IMF doubted Iraq could reach 12 mil/bar/day of oil production by 2017 Said infrastructure limited
production Said Iraq needed huge investment in ports pipelines desalination plants storage facilities
2012 Baghdad said it would pay KRG $558 mil for Kurdish oil exports from budget Came after KRG
threatened to stop oil exports for central govt until it got monthly budget payments
(Musings On Iraq Kurds May Be Fighting Losing Battle With Iraq’s Central Government Over Oil Exports)
2012 Report Abdul Masawar Barzani cousin of Pres Barzani and university lecturer taken in by security
forces in Irbil Told to stop criticizing Mulla Musafa Barzani Also criticized tribalism in KRG politics
2013 Iran delivered bodies of Iraqi militiamen killed fighting for it in Syria
(Musings On Iraq The Increasing Flow Of Iraqi Fighters To Syria, An Interview With University Of Maryland’s Phillip Smyth)
2014 Families from Qara Tapa, Diyala started fleeing militias
2014 PM Maliki accused Saudis and Qatar of waging war on Iraq Said they were aiding IS Said they were
responsible for sectarianism terrorism and security crisis in Iraq
(Musings On Iraq review A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy, The Saudi Struggle For Iraq)
2014 Report ISIS condemned voting in elections Posted flyers against election Said it would target voting
centers
2016 Report PM Abadi said wanted 9 member cabinet with Electricity and Defense ministers staying
(Musings On Iraq A Review Of Iraq Premier Abadi’s Reform Program Interview With Reidar Visser)
2016 Turkey’s PM Oglu said it would not withdraw its troops from Iraq as long as IS a threat
Were there for fighting PKK not IS
2017 Kirkuk council voted to fly the Kurdish flag over government buildings in province Led to protest by
Turkmen in Kirkuk city
2018 Amnesty International said KRG security forces abused reporters covering protests
2018 KRG said it would reduce pay cuts for govt workers in response to protests Still not able to fully pay for them
2018 Report IS set up fake checkpoint and abducted 9 Federal Police in Kirkuk Then executed them and posted it on social media Past week IS accused of setting up 6 fake checkpoints
(Musings On Iraq June 2018 Islamic State Rebuilding In Rural Areas Of Central Iraq)
2020 Report US officials got daily warnings of attacks by pro-Iran Hashd No decision
on how to respond US asked PM Abdul Mahdi to arrest perpetrators Kataib Hezbollah behind rocket attacks Trump admin did not want to escalate situation US increased defensive equipment at bases
2020 Report Abdul Mahdi govt struggling to pay salaries with low oil prices Needed $3.5
bil/mo to pay govt workers Only earned $2 bil/mo from oil sales $1 bil of which went to paying oil companies
(Musings On Iraq Iraq Faces The Abyss With Coronavirus And Oil Collapse)
2021 Report Pro-Iran Hashd controlled many border points to earn money Finance Min Allawi
said govt officials political parties gangs and businessmen worked together to steal from border crossings Hashd and political parties had own tariffs on trade Border agents inspectors police took bribes from companies that wanted to skip official tariffs Mandali crossing with Iran controlled by Badr Kataib Hezbollah controlled cigarette trade Zerbatiya crossing with Iran controlled by Asaib Ahl Al-Haq PM Kazemi tried to take control of crossings with little effect Kataib Hezbollah used to control Baghdad Airport Expelled but still controlled air shipments
(Musings On Iraq Badr Organization A View Into Iraq’s Violent Past And Present)
(Musings On Iraq Instrument Of Iran’s Power In Iraq And Syria Kataib Hezbollah)
(Musings On Iraq Asaib Ahl Al-Haq From A Breakaway Sadr Militia To Defenders Of Iraq)
2021 Peshmerga brigade in Sulaymaniya protested over not being paid for 2 months KRG couldn’t
pay bills due to disputes with Baghdad over oil and budget Reporter arrested for covering protest
2021 Dhi Qar protest organizer escaped assassination attempt
(Musings On Iraq UN Report On Violence Against Iraqi Protesters)
(Musings On Iraq United Nations Faults Iraq For Failing To Protect Protesters)
2022 KRG PM M Barzani said that KRG would eventually export natural gas to Turkey and Europe KRG
had been talking about that since 2012
2023 Report Claims Iraq wanted to be ambiguous over whether it had WMD to deter
Iran and that secular Saddam wouldn’t work with Islamist Al Qaeda persist but not true Iraq tried to hide its WMD from inspectors When started to come clean UN and US believed that proved Iraq hiding its programs and punished it to try to get more info but backfired Made Iraq not want to cooperate 1994 Iraqi Intel Service made contact with bin Laden in Sudan Iraqis met bin Laden in 1995 Asked for Iraq to broadcast Salafi preacher into Saudi Arabia and asked for joint ops vs US in Saudi Arabia Saddam okayed radio broadcasts Intel service wanted to look into further cooperation with bin Laden After he was deported from Sudan and went to Afghanistan in 1996 intel service said it still had contact with him Nothing came of it Iraq supported other jihadist groups Saddam opposed to Salafis in Iraq but willing to work with them in other countries if helped Iraq’s interests
2024 Report Hashd expanded control of Ninewa Controlled projects Blocked some
View the Iraq History Timelines
This Day In Iraqi History - Mar 27 Saddam said he was going to get a nuclear bomb with help of the Soviets so he could go to war with Israel
1918 British took Haditha
1922 General Haldane commander of UK forces compared Iraqis to children
1924 New parliament met for 1st time to ratify Anglo-Iraq Treaty write constitution write law for
parliamentary elections Was lots of opposition to treaty Some wanted to amend treaty which UK rejected
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Democratic Moment)
1933 New parliament met PM Gaylani presented program to reform every part of govt Impossible
to accomplish
1959 Communists protested demanding death sentences be applied for opponents of Qasim
(Musings On Iraq review Red Star Over Iraq, Iraqi Communism Before Saddam)
(Musings On Iraq Revolutionary Times, Gen. Qasim And Iraq’s 1958 Coup, Interview With Western Kentucky’s Prof. Juan Romero)
(Musings On Iraq A History Of The Iraqi Communist Party Interview With Univ of East Anglia’s Johan Franzen)
1975 Barzani and KDP leadership entered into exile in Iran after Shah ended support
1979 Saddam told Baath meeting that Iraq was going to get a nuclear weapon with help of Soviets so he
could go to war with Israel Saddam believed having a nuclear bomb would allow a conventional war of attrition with Israel that could cost 50,000 Iraqi casualties
1979 Saddam discussed with advisers how to punish countries that backed Sadat’s peace treaty with
Israel
1981 Start of second attempt by Islamic Conference to negotiate ceasefire in Iran-Iraq War
1982 3rd phase of Iranian Op Fath began to take Fakkeh strategic crossroads to Maysan Saddam ordered
4th Corps to retreat from Shush in face of Iranian attack
(Musings On Iraq review Iran-Iraq War Volume 4: The Forgotten Fronts)
1984 Iraq used French Super Etendard jets for 1st time to attack Iranian shipping Hit a Greek ship in
Persian Gulf carrying Kuwaiti oil that was helping Iraq pay for the war
(Musings On Iraq review Iraqi Mirages, The Dassault Mirage Family In Service With The Iraqi Air Force, 1981-1988)
1986 Iraq launched attack in Penjwin Sulaymaniya Pushed Iranians back to border
1988 Iran Op Bait al-Moqaddas 4 started aimed at Darbandikhan dam
(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)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 1: The Battle for Khuzestan, September 1980-May 1982)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 2: Iran Strikes back, June 1982-December 1986)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 3: Iraq’s Triumph)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 4: The Forgotten Fronts)
1988 Iraq dropped chemical bombs for 2nd day on Karadagh Kurdistan 64 killed 210 wounded total
during Anfal Campaign
(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Anfal Campaign And The Destruction Of The Kurdish Opposition)
1991 2nd day fighting between Iraqi forces and peshmerga on Khanaqin-Jalawla road Diyala
(Musings On Iraq review Kurds of Iraq, Tragedy and Hope)
1991 White House spokesman said that US had made no promises to Shiites or Kurds and US public not
interested in getting involved in an Iraqi civil war
(Musings On Iraq review Out Of The Ashes, The Resurrection of Saddam Hussein)
(Musings On Iraq When The US Helped Start A Rebellion In Iraq That It Didn’t Want)
(Musings On Iraq interview with National Univ of Singapore’s Fanar Haddad on the Impact of the 1991 Uprising)
(Musings On Iraq Remembering The 1991 Uprising In Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq Saddam’s View of Iraq’s 1991 Uprising)
1991 4,700 Kurds fled 91 uprising for Turkish border
1995 Fighting between KDP and PUK killed 100 in Irbil
1996 UN Resolution 1051 set up monitoring system for Iraqi imports-exports under Oil for Food
program
(Musings On Iraq review Invisible War, The United States And The Iraq Sanctions)
1998 UN inspectors went to 8 presidential sites Iraq allowed entry to Were all sanitized and nothing there
Iraq then said inspectors couldn’t come back
(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Rejection Of UN Inspectors Led To Mistrust Over WMD And 2003 Invasion)
2003 Coalition ground forces commander Gen McKiernan ordered halt to operations to regroup forces
2003 U.S. forces entered Samawa, Muthanna and encountered fierce fighting by Fedayeen Saddam
(Musings On Iraq review Voices From Iraq, A People’s History, 2003-2009)
(Musings On Iraq US Army History of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter The Invasion of Iraq)
2003 Iraqi forces began withdrawing in Kirkuk Looting started
(Musings On Iraq interview with Petit of 173rd 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 Iraq Def Min reviewed war Told US capturing transportation hubs attacking multiple targets at
same time Report ignored by Saddam
2003 ORHA had meeting of all 4 postwar planning groups to come up with unified plan for Iraq Didn’t
happen Groups had all been created separately within Bush admin with no coordination between them
(Musings On Iraq on Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Hard Lessons Chapter 3 The Department of Defense Takes Charge)
(Musings On Iraq Special Inspector General For Iraq Reconstruction Hard Lessons Chapter 4 Staging in Kuwait)
(Musings On Iraq review Leap of Faith, Hubris Negligence, and America’s Greatest Foreign Policy
Tragedy)
(Musings On Iraq review Losing Iraq, Inside The Post War Reconstruction Fiasco)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Dysfunctional Democracy)
(Musings On Iraq review Hard Lessons, The Iraq Reconstruction Experience)
2003 Dep Sec Def Wolfowitz told House of Reps committee Iraq oil would pay for reconstruction
(Musings On Iraq Irqi Oil Would Pay For Reconstruction)
(Musings On Iraq Special Inspector General For Iraq Reconstruction’s Hard Lessons Chapter 13 Restarting Oil Production)
2003 USAID disaster response team entered Um Qasr, Basra to assess humanitarian situation in city
2003 Pres Assad called on Arab countries to stand up against US invasion
2003 Iraqi govt claimed 350 civilians killed in Coalition air strikes during invasion
2003 Opposition Leadership Council statement said Iraqi army should join the opposition That Council would form provisional govt and then national assembly Didn’t happen
2003 Top UK military lawyer in Iraq went to UK detention facility in Basra Saw prisoners hooded and witnessed tribunal which he questioned legality of Complained to commander of facility who agreed practices illegal but said he wasn’t getting any support from command to change things
2004 Report sent to Washington that after examination 2 trailers found during invasion were not mobile
WMD labs as originally thought
(Musings On Iraq How Iraqi Defector CURVEBALL Became Basis For US Claims That Iraq Had WMD)
2004 Marine patrol hit by IED leading to 36 hr gunfight in Fallujah Prelude to 1st Battle of Fallujah
(Musings On Iraq review The Battle for Fallujah, Occupation, Resistance and Stalemate in the War in Iraq)
2007 Anbar council said no oversight of border crossings and 40% of tariffs stolen due to corruption
(Musings On Iraq Corruption In Iraq An Interview With Stuart Bowen Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction)
(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Trouble Fighting Corruption Interview With Vincent Foulk Former US Anti-Graft Official)
2007 ISI attempted to assassinate Sheikh Dhari of Zobaie tribe in Anbar Attacked killed his
son who was leader in 1920 Revolution Brigades
2007 Report fighting between Islamic Army and 1920 Revolution Brigades vs ISI in Anbar and Abu
Ghraib and Taji areas of Baghdad over tactics and ISI trying to dominate insurgency Also splits in Diyala
(Musings On Iraq The Demise But Not Death of Al Qaeda In Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review The Caliphate At War, Operational Realities and Innovations of the Islamic State)
2007 US Mil intel report that Iranian intelligence working with Badr and Mahdi Army to assassinate
Industry Ministry officials
(Musings On Iraq Badr Organization A View Into Iraq’s Violent Past And Present)
2007 Report 1st EFP attack Aug 2003 Aug 05 Natl Sec Adv Hadley said Iran probably behind EFP attacks
Oct 05 UK Amb to Iraq said Iran giving aid to militias to attack UK forces Apr 06 EFP attacks began increasing then dropped start of 07 Bush admin struggled over what to do about attacks Decided upon raids and media briefings EFPs supplied by Iran and Hezbollah
(Musings On Iraq How Iran Used Explosively Formed Projectiles (EFPs) To Influence events In Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq A History Of Iranian Weapons Shipments To Iraq Interview With Arkenstone Blog’s Galen Wright)
(Musings On Iraq Continued Reports Of Iranian and Hezbollah Training of Shiite Militias)
(Musings On Iraq Overview of Iran’s Influence In Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq Hezbollah’s Role In Iraq)
2008 UK reported ISF suffered bad intelligence and bad planning and had to change Charge of Knights
op Also reported Iraqi Special Forces had failed to take any of their targets and had to withdraw Mahdi Army controlled most of Basra
2008 Fighting between ISF and Mahdi Army continued in Basra Sadrists launched counterattack
overrunning police station Iraqi 52ns Brigade broke Kut Diwaniya Amara Spread to Dhi Qar Mahdi Army fired mortars at 2 neighborhoods in Baghdad and Green Zone Fighting in 2 of Baghdad’s neighborhoods Basra police chief escaped suicide car bomb Mahdi Army kidnapped spokesman for Baghdad Ops Command
(Musings on Iraq US Army In The Iraq War Volume 2 Chapter 8 Crescendo: Maliki Against The Sadrists)
2008 Electricity Min said most power plants in south stopped working after attacked by mortars and
gunfire due to govt fighting Mahdi Army
2008 Report Basra Ops Commander wanted to wait 3 months to build up forces and strategy to take on
Mahdi Army but PM Maliki started early Warnings about fighting spreading throughout south Iraq were ignored by Maliki US didn’t believe commanders plan workable
2008 Sadr called for talks to end Charge of Knights PM Maliki said no publicly but talks were going on
in Najaf Iran mediating
2008 Gen Austin flew to Basra Met with PM Maliki who blamed UK for letting militias take over Basra
Demanded Coalition air support Austin convinced PM to allow US advisors to work with ISF units to provide air support Maliki ordered more ISF units to Basra
2008 US general arrived in Basra to coordinate with ISF Set up drones to take out Mahdi Army mortar
teams
2008 US told that PM Maliki did not want US advisers in Charge of Knights just US firepower
2008 Pipeline in Basra blown up cutting exports by 1/3
2008 Presidential Council approved General Amnesty Law as part of reconciliation Allowed release of
thousands of prisoners
(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Amnesty Law)
2009 US Cmdr in Iraq Gen Austin said Iraq would ask US forces to stay in Baquba, Mosul and
Basra to help with security after deadline for US troops to leave cities PM Maliki didn’t ask
2009 Study US occupation and insurgency destroyed education in Fallujah 35% of children were
illiterate and couldn’t write Only 20% passed school exams in 08
2012 Baghdad hosted Arab Summit marking major move back into Arab politics
2014 Islamic Party accused ISF of being involved in killing civilians in Buhriz, Diyala
2014 Report Education Min said students who passed religious exams at schools run by Shiite Muslim
Endowment would be equal to exams at regular schools
2015 Tikrit operation re-started after US airstrikes requested by PM Abadi
(Musings On Iraq Divisions Over Iraq War Exposed In Victory In Tikrit)
2015 Asaib Ahl Al-Haq claimed US told IS about airstrikes beforehand Said Coalition was trying
to save IS in Tikrit Claimed US bombing ISF Part of pro-Iran groups propaganda vs US
(Musings On Iraq Asaib Ahl Al-Haq From A Breakaway Sadr Militia To Defenders Of Iraq)
2015 Report PM Abadi told Hashd they should be cooperating with govt and ISF to take Tikrit
after many factions said they withdrew due to US involvement Ayatollah Sistani gave sermon saying Hashd should work with Abadi and ISF Hezbollah Nujaba said it might target Coalition planes for taking part in Tikrit op
(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Sheikh Akram Al-Kaabi and Hezbollah al-Nujaba)
2016 ISCI and Kurdish Alliance complained that Abadi not consulted with them over his reforms Kurds
said they would not submit any candidates for ministries unless govt completely changed Said didn’t know why ministers had to be changed in 1st place
(Musings On Iraq A Review Of Iraq Premier Abadi’s Reform Program Interview With Reidar Visser)
2016 Sadr went into Green Zone to start his own sit in protests Was trying to dictate PM
Abadi’s reforms
(Musings On Iraq interview with Cambridge’s Michael Clark on Sadr, protests and PM Abadi’s reforms)
(Musings On Iraq Sadr Trying To Play Kingmaker In Iraq)
2017 Mass grave found in Jalawla Diyala Thought to be peshmerga executed by IS Another mass
grave found in Sadiya where 100 civilians went missing
2017 Asaib Ahl Al-Haq said that US should be excluded from Mosul battle because committed
crimes Came after US airstrike killed over 200 civilians
(Musings On Iraq Asaib Ahl Al-Haq From A Breakaway Sadr Militia To Defenders Of Iraq)
2017 Joint Ops Command said investigation into Mosul bombing found IS responsible Put 130
people into house and car bomb went off outside False story Over 200 civilians killed in US airstrike
(Musings On Iraq Mosul Campaign Day 162, March 27, 2017)
2018 PM Abadi met with Turkish PM Yildrim about PKK Abadi said Iraq would not let any foreign force along its border with Turkey Claimed ISF was in control of all of Iraq when had no control of border Abadi rejected any incursions by Turkey
(Musings On Iraq Political Posturing By Iraq And Turkey)
2018 Asaib Ahl Al-Haq threatened to attack Turkey if it violated Iraqi territory
2018 PM Abadi attacked media for its coverage of IS Claimed repeated fake stories that helped IS
2019 Warrant issued for ex-Ninewa Gov Akoub after he was dismissed for ferry sinking
Accused of corruption
2021 Pro-Iran Hashd gave ultimatum to PM Kazemi to take action against US for Feb airstrikes
against Hashd
2023 Parliament amended Election Law to return to old system of having each province be a
single voting district Helps large parties win elections
(Musings On Iraq Coordination Framework Moves To Re-Write Iraq’s Election Rules)
2023 Turkey shut down oil pipeline to Iraq in retaliation for losing arbitration case Denied
KRG of its main source of revenue
View the Iraq History Timelines
This Day In Iraqi History - Mar 26 Iyad Allawi won 2010 election PM Maliki came in 2nd
1918 Battle of Khan Baghdadi between Ottomans and British started
1931 RAF bombed 3 villages in Sulaymaniya to save police who were surrounded by Barzinji’s
forces
(Musings On Iraq review Britain In Iraq, Contriving King and Country)
1941 PM Hashemi transferred 1 Golden Square officer to Diwaniya He refused Golden Square got PM to
reverse order They promised to stay out of politics in return Decided to remove PM instead
1969 Pres Assad called for Iraq-Syria-Egypt union
1975 Iranian premier visited Baghdad and laid out steps to implement Algiers Agreement to determine
border between two
1979 Iraq hosted anti-Sadat meeting to oppose new Egypt-Israel peace treaty
1982 2 Iraqi divisions ordered to retreat to escape encirclement during Iranian Op Fath push on Maysan
Large tank battle in Chananeh End of day Iraqi 1st Mech Div destroyed
(Musings On Iraq review Iran-Iraq War Volume 4: The Forgotten Fronts)
1984 US Special Envoy Rumsfeld arrived in Iraq for 3rd time Rumsfeld presented secret proposal for
Israeli aid against Iran Iraq rejected offer Also offered $2 bil in loan guarantees Agreed to restore diplomatic relations
(Musings On Iraq review The Saddam Tapes)
(Musings On Iraq review Spider’s Web, The secret history of how the White House illegally armed Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq Review The Twilight War, The Secret History Of America’s Thirty-Year Conflict With Iran)
1985 Iraq threatened to spread war to all sections of Iran if it didn’t agree to a peace settlement
(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)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 1: The Battle for Khuzestan, September 1980-May 1982)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 2: Iran Strikes back, June 1982-December 1986)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 3: Iraq’s Triumph)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 4: The Forgotten Fronts)
1988 Iraq dropped chemical bombs on Karadagh Kurdistan during Anfal campaign
(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Anfal Campaign And The Destruction Of The Kurdish Opposition)
1991 Fierce fighting between Iraqi forces and Peshmerga on Khanaqin-Jalawla road Diyala
(Musings On Iraq interview with National Univ of Singapore’s Fanar Haddad on the Impact of the 1991 Uprising)
(Musings On Iraq Remembering The 1991 Uprising In Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq Saddam’s View of Iraq’s 1991 Uprising)
1991 Talabani returned to Iraq after 3 years Gave speech talking about freeing all of Iraq working with
Iraqi opposition to create a provisional govt
(Musings On Iraq review Kurds of Iraq, Tragedy and Hope)
1991 White House meeting on Iraq uprising Decided not to get involved
(Musings On Iraq review Out Of The Ashes, The Resurrection of Saddam Hussein)
(Musings On Iraq When The US Helped Start A Rebellion In Iraq That It Didn’t Want)
1991 Bush told press Iraqi rebels had not asked U.S. for help during uprising
1991 Bush administration said they would not stop Iraq from using helicopters to put down uprisings
1991 Bush Natl Sec Adv Scowcorft secretly met Saudi King Fahd who told US to stay out of 1991
uprising
1996 Jordanian govt held party celebrating opening of Iraqi National Accord new HQ in Amman
1996 PUK backed peace deal with KDP although talks had not worked out
(Musings On Iraq review The Kurds, A Modern History)
1997 Secretary of State Albright said US disagreed with countries that wanted sanctions to end if
Iraq complied with inspections Said Iraq had to prove peaceful intentions and that wasn’t possible with Saddam
(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)
(Musings On Iraq review Invisible War, The United States And The Iraq Sanctions)
(Musings On Iraq review The Regime Change Consensus, Iraq In American Politics 1990-2003)
(Musings On Iraq How Did America Move From Containing Saddam To Removing Him? Interview With Joseph Stieb Asst Prof at the US Naval War College)
1998 UN inspectors went to presidential palace and found nothing
2003 US forces began move on Kut Wasit Surrounded Najaf Iraqi 3rd Special Forces Brigade attacked US 3rd Infantry Div in Kifl Najaf with no effect Bridge at Kifl taken Used to bring Fedayeen into Najaf Iraqi counterattack south of Najaf failed
2003 Iraqi Republican Guard Al Madina Div moved to Karbala Gap under cover of sandstorm to block US advance on Baghdad Saddam then ordered Al Madina to halt believing it was heading into a trap
(Musings On Iraq review Voices From Iraq, A People’s History, 2003-2009)
2003 US 173rd Airborne Brigade landed in northern Iraq to cooperate with Peshmerga move into Kirkuk
(Musings On Iraq interview with Petit of 173rd Airborne Bgd on operations in Kirkuk)
2003 Iraq claimed US missile hit market in Baghdad US Air strikes failed to take Iraq state TV off the air
2003 Bush and PM Blair met at Camp David to discuss Iraq invasion
2003 ORHA sent list of 16 sites that needed to be protected in Baghdad to US military HQ in Kuwait but
was ignored
2003 Sec Def Rumsfeld told ORHA’s Garner he had some replacements for Americans going to run Iraq
ministries Wanted them all from Pentagon
(Musings On Iraq on Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Hard Lessons Chapter 3 The Department of Defense Takes Charge)
(Musings On Iraq review State of Denial, Bush At War, Part III)
2003 British intel report Hope that Iraqi govt would quickly fall within days of invasion fading
(Musings On Iraq Chilcot Inquiry Section 8: The Invasion)
2006 US-Iraqi special forces raid killed 16 Mahdi Army militiamen in Adhamiya Baghdad Sadrists
removed weapons Rearranged bodies to look like they’d been killed during prayers Spread photos on Internet Led to US and Iraqi investigations that halted US raids on Mahdi Army
2007 PM Maliki and Pres Talabani announced Accountability and Justice bill would change
deBaathification process Wouldn’t pass until 2008 due to opposition
2007 Report Amb Khalilzad held talks with 1920 Revolution Brigades and Islamic Army in 2006 No
breakthroughs Insurgents made unreasonable demands like dismissing govt Suspending constitution US also had talks with insurgents in 2005 Maliki govt upset with talks claimed Khalilzad sectarian and trying to undermine Shiite majority rule
2008 Fighting between ISF and Mahdi Army in Basra 5 neighborhoods in Baghdad plus Kut Diwaniya
Hillah Karbala Zubayr Mortars fired at Green Zone Mahdi Army attacked US checkpoints in EBaghdad Clashes between Mahdi Army and Badr Dawa office burned in Sadr City
(Musings on Iraq US Army In The Iraq War Volume 2 Chapter 8 Crescendo: Maliki Against The Sadrists)
2008 PM Maliki gave gunmen 72 hours to turn in weapons in Basra
2008 US and Iraqi forces began moving into Sadr City as fight against Mahdi Army moved from Basra to
Baghdad Goal was to stop rocket and mortar attacks on Green Zone
(Musings On Iraq review Death of the Mehdi Army, The Rise, Fall, and Revival of Iraq’s Most Powerful Militia)
2008 Sadrists walked out of parliament over govt crackdown on movement Called for no confidence
vote against PM Maliki
2008 Mass grave with 52 bodies of people executed by ISI found in Diyala River Valley
(Musings On Iraq Diyala Province Backgrounder)
2009 US and UN sanctioned Muthanna Harith Dhari for financing ISI 1920 Revolution
Brigade and Islamic Army of Iraq
(Musings On Iraq Spiritual Leader To Iraq’s Insurgency Harith Dhari Dies In Exile)
2009 Report May 08 PM Maliki launched security op in Mosul $100 mil for rebuilding Clashed with Ninewa
govt over contracts Governor said unnecessary people hired Mosul govt said money wasted and nothing completed Governor tried to stop contracts
2009 Report PM Maliki moved 4th Div out of Kirkuk which was led by Kurds Replaced by 12th
Div accused of harassing Kurds Demanded peshmerga and Kurdish intel leave Kirkuk Moved into disputed town and almost got into shootout with residence before US intervened
2010 DeBaathification chairman Lami assassinated US blamed Asaib Ahl Al-Haq
2010 Election results announced Iraqiya 91 seats State of Law 89 National Alliance 70 Kurdish Alliance
43
(Musings On Iraq Allawi Wins Iraq’s Election, But Does It Matter?)
(Musings On Iraq review The Unraveling, High Hopes And Missed Opportunity In Iraq)
2010 Pres Talabani and VP Mahdi went to Tehran to talk about national elections
2010 State of Law met with Sadr in Qom to try to win his support for 2nd Maliki administration
2010 State of Law protest in Amara called for recount in national elections
2010 Human Rights Min said it found 84 mass graves in Baghdad and Diyala all from post-03 violence
2011 PM Maliki warned of sectarian conflict in Gulf after Saudi Arabia and UAE sent troops to Bahrain
2011 Peshmerga announced withdrawal from parts of Kirkuk after political protests
2012 KRG said it would stop oil exports if it didn’t get paid for what it had already shipped Claimed owed
$1.5 bil by Baghdad Said hadn’t gotten monthly payment since May 2011 KRG was not meeting its oil export quota
(Musings On Iraq Kurds May Be Fighting Losing Battle With Iraq’s Central Government Over Oil Exports)
(Musings On Iraq Iraqi Kurdistan’s Failed Independent Oil Strategy)
2012 KRG demanded that Baghdad get its permission to work on Kirkuk oil field Oil Min was talking
with BP to develop field
(Musings On Iraq Talks Over Development Kirkuk Field Highlight Differences Between Iraq’s Government and Kurds Over Oil In Disputed Territories)
2012 Pres Talabani announced national conference to solve political differences over Maliki govt on
Apr 5 Barzani and Allawi said they wouldn’t attend
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq From War To A New Authoritarianism)
2012 Saudi owned Al-Sharq Al-Awsat editorial condemned terrorism charges against VP Hashemi Said
Maliki govt was an Iranian creation
(Musings On Iraq review A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy, The Saudi Struggle For Iraq)
2013 Cabinet said that it agreed to meet major demands of protesters dealing with arrests amnesty etc
Never did
(Musings On Iraq Understanding Iraq’s Protest Movements, An Interview With Kirk Sowell, Editor of Inside Iraqi Politics)
2014 Sadr condemned militias in Diyala after several reports of them killing civilians and destroying
property
2014 Mutahidun said militias had killed civilians in Buhriz Diyala and destroyed houses and mosques
2015 Hashd spokesman said Asaib Ahl Al-Haq Kataib Hezbollah Peace Brigades would no longer
take part in Tikrit op due to US airstrikes
(Musings On Iraq Divisions Over Iraq War Exposed In Victory In Tikrit)
(Musings On Iraq Asaib Ahl Al-Haq From A Breakaway Sadr Militia To Defenders Of Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq Instrument Of Iran’s Power In Iraq And Syria Kataib Hezbollah)
2015 Report Asaib Ahl Al-Haq claimed US bombed Iraqi forces and dropped aid to IS by
mistake Said US was trying to steal Tikrit victory from Hashd Badr and Sadrists said didn’t trust US led Coalition Said Tikrit could be taken without US help US demanded Iranians and pro-Iran Hashd pull back from Tikrit and allow ISF to take city
2015 CENTCOM mcdr Gen Austin said Iraqi police and army were now in lead in Tikrit op
2015 Report Tikrit op planned by Iran and Hashd Hashd cmdr Muhandis presented Tikrit plan to
PM Abadi and asked whether ISF wanted to be included Said US was not to be involved Muhandis said Iran and Hashd would attack Tikrit regardless of Abadi Meant to prove that Iran and allies could take major city without US Iran and Hashd launched media campaign showing that it was helping Sunni civilians during op
2015 Report Garma eastern Anbar surrounded by ISF then operation halted
2015 Report KRG received 2nd budget payment from Abadi govt but lower than expected KRG
still not meeting its oil export quota Was supposed to export 375,000 bar/day during 1st qtr 2015 Only exported 153,000 bar/day Jan 306,000 bar/day Feb KRG not getting enough money from Baghdad to meet its costs Oil companies in KRG owed $750 mil
(Musings On Iraq Iraq Reaches Another New High In Oil Exports As Budget Deal With Kurds Breaks Down)
(Musings On Iraq Iraqi Kurdistan’s Failed Independent Oil Strategy)
2016 World Bank pledged $250 mil to rebuild freed areas of Iraq PM Abadi said govt would cut
spending Encourage private sector Diversify economy away from oil Only made budget cuts
2016 Turkish soldier killed Another wounded by IS rocket attack upon Turkish base in Bashiqa
Ninewa Turkey responded with artillery and air strike 2nd IS attack upon base
2016 Report Hashd spokesman said it was not involved in politics Said followed govt institutions
and overseen by PM Abadi Already involved in politics and some factions did not follow Abadi
2016 Makhmour Ninewa op stalled by IEDs and bad weather that blocked air strikes
2016 Report Maliki’s State of Law disagreed with PM Abadi’s cabinet reforms Blocked sending
ministerial candidates to parliament Other lists not sent candidates to Abadi Talk by Supreme Council to come up with new ruling alliance if Abadi failed
(Musings On Iraq A Review Of Iraq Premier Abadi’s Reform Program Interview With Reidar Visser)
2017 ISF denied air strike led to civilian deaths in west Mosul Claimed IS car bomb destroyed
building Then said this happened in different neighborhood US airstrike did destroy building leaving over 200 dead
(Musings On Iraq Mosul Campaign Day 162, March 27, 2017)
2017 Joint Ops Command said reports of civilian deaths in Mosul being exaggerated
2017 Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights said 3,846 civilians killed in Battle for Mosul Called on
Iraq and US to show restraint Said IS had taken 197 civilians to Grand Mosque in Mosul to be used as human shields
2018 Report Civil Defense officer in Mosul complained about lack of support to rebuild city Civilians cleaning up city because govt too slow didn’t have money and was corrupt
2018 Teachers protested in Sulaymaniya Dohuk Irbil over govt not paying salaries due to disputes with Baghdad over budget oil and bad contracts
2018 Report Kosrat Rasul said PUK split Hero Ibrahim wife of Talabani believed she was leader Rasul said PUK not a family party
2018 Comm to Protect Journalists said media attacked by security forces while covering protests in KRG 7 reporters assaulted 2 arrested
2018 Report Turkey occupied 28 villages up to 10km into Irbil Built new military base to fight PKK
2018 Report Kurds fleeing villages in Daquq south Kirkuk due to IS attacks
(Musings On Iraq June 2018 Islamic State Rebuilding In Rural Areas Of Central Iraq)
2020 Pro-Iran Hashd group fired rockets at Green Zone in Baghdad
2020 Report Hashd said it sanitized 2,000 sites for COVID Set up hospitals in Dhi Qar
Babil Karbala Salahaddin Trying to use virus to show working for public
2024 Report 400,000 govt workers eliminated from KRG payrolls for getting 2 or more
salaries 1 official said some public workers got 3-4 salaries Were 1000s of ghost workers
View the Iraq History Timelines
This Day In Iraqi History - Mar 25 Iraq’s Information Min Sahaf began telling media US losing during invasion of Iraq
1915 British infantry brigade and artillery landed at Basra as reinforcements
1915 UK PM Asquith said that after WWI UK should get part of Mesopotamia Same time
afraid of imperial overreach Said taking Mesopotamia would cost millions in development with no immediate returns for UK Would also need to keep large occupation army and administer area with difficult Arabs and dangerous Kurds
(Musings On Iraq review U.S. Policy In Post-Saddam Iraq)
1917 British forces defeated by Ottomans at Battle of Mount Hamrin, Diyala British suffered
1,165 casualties Ottomans withdrew afterward
1920 PM Lloyd George argued in parliament that Basra Baghdad Mosul should be part of
British Mandate Said withdrawing from Mosul would forfeit oil there
(Musings On Iraq review Enemy On The Euphrates, The Battle For Iraq 1914-1921)
(Musings On Iraq review When God Made Hell, The British Invasion of Mesopotamia and the Creation of Iraq, 1914-1921)
(Musings On Iraq review Britain In Iraq, Contriving King and Country)
1920 Political officer in Iraq Wilson wrote India Secretary Montagu that if UK imposed
Hashemite rule in Iraq would be a disaster
1982 Iranian Op Fath broke through Iraqi lines in push towards Maysan Iraqi counterattack
failed
(Musings On Iraq review Iran-Iraq War Volume 4: The Forgotten Fronts)
1982 Iraq asked US to stop Israel from sending weapons to Iran US Said it had no say in
matter
1982 Reagan admin officials warned that if Iran beat Iraq in Iran-Iraq War would endanger
western interests
(Musings On Iraq Review The Twilight War, The Secret History Of America’s Thirty-Year Conflict With Iran)
1985 US intel reports Iraq used chemical weapons in fighting in southern Iraq
(Musings On Iraq Origins Of Iraq’s WMD Programs)
(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Use Of Chemical Weapons In Iran-Iraq War And Their Western Origin)
(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)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 1: The Battle for Khuzestan, September 1980-May 1982)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 2: Iran Strikes back, June 1982-December 1986)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 3: Iraq’s Triumph)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 4: The Forgotten Fronts)
1995 Iraq told UN inspectors it had produced 550lbs of VX but denied weaponizing it to try
to end US complaints and end sanctions Backfired as Security Council decided to continue them
1998 UN Res 1158 extended Oil For Food Program for another 90 days
2002 UK Foreign Sec Jack Straw told Blair no Iraq-Al Qaeda link and Iraq not more of a
threat now than before 9/11 Straw argued for following legal path against Iraq via U.N. resolutions
(Musings On Iraq 2002 British Memo Said Iraq Not A Threat To The West)
(Musings On Iraq Review The Report of the Iraq Inquiry, Executive Summary)
2002 CIA report said foreign govt told it Iraq tried 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 review The WMD Mirage, Iraq’s Decade of Deception and America’s False Premise for War)
2002 New Yorker article said Iraq supported Al Qaeda via Kurdish Ansar al-Islam based upon prisoner
held by PUK Kurds told New Yorker Al Qaeda’s Zawahiri met Saddam in 1992 Also that Iraq was sending WMD to Al Qaeda All false
(Musings On Iraq Why Didn’t Bush Strike Zarqawi And Ansar al-Islam In 2002?)
2003 Information Minister Sahaf began giving press conferences claiming that U.S. was losing war
2003 Republican Guard II Corps cmdr Gen Hamdani sent 3rd Special Forces Bgd to Hilla Babil Found Baath officials in panic Quds Army forces in chaos and deserting
2003 Fedayeen Saddam unit claimed it destroyed 42 Abrams tanks and 49 armored personnel carriers near Karbala Didn’t happen Part of false reports Saddam received that Iraq winning war
(Musings On Iraq review Iraqi Perspectives Project, A View of Operation Iraqi Freedom from Saddam’s Senior Leadership)
2003 Russian Amb to Iraq provided U.S. invasion plans to Baghdad including invasion routes
(Musings On Iraq Russia Provided Iraq With Details Of US Plans Right Before Invasion)
2003 UK and ISCI reported locals in Basra rose up against Saddam Fedayeen
2003 UK forces reported Iraqi army was firing mortars on civilians in Basra to put down anti-govt revolt
2003 British bombed Basra city Secured Um Qasr in Basra
(Musings On Iraq review Voices From Iraq, A People’s History, 2003-2009)
(Musings On Iraq review Target Basra, The High Octane Story of the Royal Marine Commandos In Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review Burning Horizon, British Veteran Accounts Of The Iraq War 2003)
2003 British government confirmed its first two combat deaths in Iraq invasion in Basra
2003 Marines arrived in Diwanaiya Fought Fedayeen who’d been preparing for US arrival
2003 Heavy fighting between US forces and Fedayeen in Najaf 3rd Inf Div attacked bridge at Kifl in Najaf Used to bring Fedayeen into Najaf 7th Cav Rgt attacked bridge south of Najaf to encircle city
2003 US bombed Republican Guard positions south of Baghdad
2003 Retired US generals in TV interviews began saying invasion wasn’t going well because didn’t have
enough troops
2003 Report that Saddam was thinking of using chemical weapons when US forces attacked Baghdad Iraq
had no WMD
2003 NY Times reported facility found outside Najaf was not a chemical weapons site
2003 U.S. forces found chemical weapons gear in Nasiriya
2003 UK General recommended govt plan for its forces to stay in Iraq until March 2004 for postwar
operations
(Musings On Iraq Chilcot Inquiry Section 8: The Invasion)
2003 Report Council on Foreign Relations est Iraq’s oil industry needed $5-$7 bil in investment for
2 yrs to return to 1977 oil production of 3.5 mil/bar/day Would need another $20 bil to increase production Other experts thought Iraq needed $40-$50 bil over 10 yrs
2004 UN proposed investigation into abuses of Oil for Food program
2005 State Dept told Congress wanted to reorganize rebuilding funds with more money for services and
maintenance Didn’t think Iraq could sustain projects
2006 US Amb Khalilzad told ISCI’s Hakim US opposed to Jaafari remaining as premier Kurdish and
Sunni parties were threatening boycott of govt if Jaafari remained in office
2006 Report on captured Iraqi docs said Iraq kept the story it had WMD because helped Iraq’s image in
Arab world and deterred Israel Saddam told his top advisers there were no more WMD
2006 Report on captured Iraqi docs Saddam thought France and Russia would stop war in UN If US did
attack Thought Iraq’s “warrior spirit” would be victorious
2006 Report on captured Iraqi docs Saddam thought internal revolt main threat to his regime not US
invasion Russian Amb gave Iraq detailed intel on US troops movements and invasion plans
(Musings On Iraq Russia Provided Iraq With Details Of US Plans Right Before Invasion)
2006 Report on captured Iraq docs Saddam thought Iraq winning when war almost over and wanted
unconditional surrender by US led Coalition
2006 Report on captured Iraq docs Tape Sec State Powell played during Feb 03 UN speech was
Republican Guard making sure area met UN inspections not hiding WMD
(Musings On Iraq review The Saddam Tapes)
2006 Large battle between Mahdi Army and insurgents in Mahmudiya Baghdad 40 dead and
wounded
2007 Report Attacks in Ramadi cut in half 4,500 tribal members asked to join Ramadi police Result of
Awakening 2,500 fighters in Emergency response Units organized by Awakening paid by Interior Min
(Musings On Iraq Demise, But Not Death of Al Qaeda In Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq How A Change In Perceptions Led To The Anbar Awakening)
(Musings On Iraq interview with author Carter Malkasian on Anbar Awakening)
(Musings On Iraq review Illusions of Victory, The Anbar Awakening And The Rise Of The Islamic State)
(Musings On Iraq review Confronting Al Qaeda, The Sunni Awakening and American Strategy In Al Anbar)
(Musings On Iraq review The Marines Take Anbar, The Four-Year Fight Against Al Qaeda)
(Musings On Iraq review The Sheriff of Ramadi, Navy SEALS and the Winning of Anbar)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Sunni Insurgency)
2008 10,000 ISF moved into Mahdi Army areas of Basra city Sadrists warned about op beforehand by
members within ISF Set up ambushes ISF fell into disarray Lacked communications Units had to rely upon cell phones Basra commander Gen Freiji appeared to have lost control of op ISF were to report to both Gen Freiji and Maliki overcomplicating things Gen Freiji called for UK artillery and air strikes but could provide no coordinates Gen Freiji began ordering ad hoc attacks Mahdi Army began shelling Basra palace Killed head of Maliki’s security detail Maliki announced Gen Freiji relieved and replaced by Gen Obeidi but Freiji continued to give orders
(Musings on Iraq US Army In The Iraq War Volume 2 Chapter 8 Crescendo: Maliki Against The Sadrists)
2008 Curfew and vehicle ban imposed on Basra as part of Charge of Knights PM Maliki said militias
criminals and the local govt responsible for Basra’s problems
2008 After 1st day of fighting Mahdi Army killed 50 soldiers Wounded 120 Only lost around 40 militiamen
2008 Iraqi 52nd Brigade 14th Div broke during fighting 2/3 of police in Basra city deserted Some joined
Mahdi Army
2008 US Seal team arrived in Basra to liaison with Iraqi forces during Charge of
Knights op against Mahdi Army Start of US forces flowing into province
2008 Mahdi Army seized 5 of 18 districts in Kut Sadrists marched in Samawa against Charge of
Knights Curfew imposed on those two cities Fighting between ISF and Mahdi Army in Hilla in Babil
2008 Mahdi Army kidnapped policemen belonging to Badr in Baghdad Fought ISF and Badr in 6
neighborhoods Fired rockets at Green Zone Sadr offices called for civil disobedience in city Attacked 2 Dawa and Sistani offices in Sadr City Overran half of the checkpoints around Sadr City 230 police deserted in Shula neighborhood of Baghdad
2008 PM Maliki called on US and ISF to stop rocket attacks on Green Zone and take on Mahdi Army in
Sadr City Started battle for district
2008 US general in charge of Anbar said US hoped rebuilding would begin when security improved but
didn’t happen
2008 US began operation to retake checkpoints around Sadr City Mahdi Army took
2009 Iraqi embassy in Jordan announced program to register former soldiers who wanted
to return to Iraq
2009 Spec Insp Gen for Iraq Reconstruction Bowen testified to Congress Iraq largest rebuilding
effort in history Largely failed US didn’t plan for postwar Iraq Rebuilding was largely ad hoc Responded to situation rather than following a plan Massive waste like large rebuilding projects in Basra and Fallujah without security 1 success rebuilding ISF
(Musings On Iraq Special Inspector General Testifies To Congress)
(Musings On Iraq review Hard Lessons, The Iraq Reconstruction Experience)
2009 Pentagon created program to revive Iraq’s state owned enterprises Worked with 30 factories
None making a profit
2009 Report US military acknowledged militias won battle of Baghdad and carried sectarian
cleansing with many Sunnis forced out Only 50,000 of 300,000 displaced families 16% returned
(Musings On Iraq Columbia University Charts Sectarian Cleansing Of Baghdad)
2009 Speaker of Iranian parliament Larijani came to Iraq Pushed Shiite parties to reform United
Alliance for 2010 elections
(Musings On Iraq Iran’s Policy Towards Iraq)
2010 Asaib Ahl Al-Haq released US contractor it kidnapped Issa Salomi in return for 4 of its
members being freed
(Musings On Iraq Asaib Ahl Al-Haq From A Breakaway Sadr Militia To Defenders Of Iraq)
2010 State of Law threatened lawsuit unless Election Commission made a recount of national vote State of
Law members protested in Basra, Najaf, Karbala, Kut calling for voting recount
2010 Federal Supreme Court ruled that list that formed largest coalition after election had right
to form govt Allowed PM Maliki to outmaneuver Iyad Allawi who won most seats in election
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq From War To A New Authoritarianism)
2011 ISF blocked all entrances to Tahrir Sq to try to block protests but happened anyway Were protests
in Baghdad Najaf Diwaniya Kut Hillah against corruption and lack of services
(Musings On Iraq Protests Continue In Iraq)
2011 Was 2nd protest in Tahrir Sq against reconciliation with former Baathists probably organized by
Dawa
2011 37 Dawa officials in PM Maliki’s office found with fake diplomas
2012 VP Hashemi claimed ISF tortured one of his bodyguards to death during questioning
2012 Pres Barzani said that PM Maliki was abusing his powers and not following Irbil agreement made
after 2010 elections
(Musings On Iraq How The No Confidence Move Against Iraq’s Premier Split The Kurdish Parties)
(Musings On Iraq Argument For Maliki Being Iraq’s Next Strongman)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq After America, Strongmen, Sectarians, Resistance)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq From War To A New Authoritarianism)
(Musings On Iraq Is Iraq’s Prime Minister Becoming A Dictator? An Interview With Kirk Sowell Of Inside Iraqi Politics)
(Musings On Iraq Is Iraq’s Prime Minister Maliki More Like Premier Nuri al-Sa’id Than Saddam? An Interview With Historian Phebe Marr)
2012 Pres Talabani called for reconciliation between Kurdish Alliance and PM Maliki
2012 Displacement Ministry said Europe was deporting Iraqi refugees and wanted it to stop
(Musings On Iraq review Children of War, Voices Of Iraqi Refugees)
2012 Electricity Ministry said it would stop importing power in summer 2013 as domestic production
increased Didn’t happen
(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Parliament And Cabinet Argue Over Future Electricity Output)
(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Government Failing Again To Solve Country’s Power Outages)
2013 Committee created to come up with laws to meet demands of protesters Did nothing
(Musings On Iraq Understanding Iraq’s Protest Movements, An Interview With Kirk Sowell, Editor of Inside Iraqi Politics)
2013 Turkey signed trade deal with KRG
(Musings On Iraq review Turkey, the US and Iraq)
2014 Militias held parade in Balad, Salahaddin which local officials tried to deny
2014 ISIS took over Nibai for one day and then left
2014 ISIS made call for declaring the caliphate as a trial balloon
(Musings On Iraq review The Caliphate At War, Operational Realities and Innovations of the Islamic State)
2014 Transportation Ministry set up special flights to take ISF members from Mosul to homes in
Baghdad to avoid insurgent attacks along highway
2014 Report Dozens of Sunni families fled Buhriz, Diyala Was taken over 1 day by ISIS Then ISF shelled
town Next day police and militias showed up Burned 3 mosques
2015 Officials accused Diyala governor of stealing millions in aid meant for displaced
(Musings On Iraq Number Of Displaced In Iraq Passes 3 Million Mark)
2015 Gorran presented 3 plans for renewing Pres Barzani’s term
2015 Fight in KRG parliament when KDP members attacked Gorran MPs over Pres Barzani
2015 Member of Salahaddin council accused Hashd of kidnapping 125 civilians from Dour Later raised to
300 people Kataib Hezbollah blamed
(Musings On Iraq Divisions Over Iraq War Exposed In Victory In Tikrit)
(Musings On Iraq Crimes And Misdemeanors Of Kataib Hezbollah During War Vs ISIS Interview With Free Lance Journalist Jonathan Lee Krohn)
(Musings On Iraq Instrument Of Iran’s Power In Iraq And Syria Kataib Hezbollah)
2015 US began air strikes on Tikrit Pro-Iran Hashd said they would not take part in op to re-take city
because of US involvement
2015 Hashd accused of blowing up house and executing 3 civilians in Diyala
2015 2nd adviser to Diyala governor killed Blamed on Hashd
2015 Ninewa Gov Nujafi set up training camp in Ninewa for militia Kurds provided land Turks
provided trainers Baghdad paid fighters
2017 KRG PM Barzani said Kurdish referendum on independence would happen in 2017
(Musings On Iraq review The Great Betrayal, How America Abandoned The Kurds And Lost The Middle East)
2017 US admitted it carried out airstrike in Mosul day house hit and over 200 civilians killed Civil
Defense force said it pulled 136 bodies from rubble and thought another 150 still buried in building
(Musings On Iraq Mosul Campaign Day 160, March 25, 2017)
2017 Golden Div Gen Saadi said Coalition airstrike responsible for destroying building in West
Mosul where civilians killed Defense Min opened investigation into bombing Iraqi general said car bomb responsible for casualties Civil Defense force said no sign of a car bomb
2017 Report Trump asked Pentagon to rethink rules of engagement for airstrikes in Iraq to make
them easier to approve
(Musings On Iraq review Airpower in the War Against ISIS)
(Musings On Iraq review Degrade And Destroy, The Inside Story Of The War Against the Islamic State, From Barack Obama To Donald Trump)
2018 Turkey made false claim it was launching military operation in Sinjar to force PKK to leave which it
agreed to do Didn’t leave
(Musings On Iraq Turkey Bluffs Its Way Into Getting PKK To Withdraw From Iraq’s Sinjar)
(Musings On Iraq review Turkey, the US and Iraq)
2018 KRG said it would adjust how it paid govt workers if PM Abadi continued to send monthly budget payments Police attacked protesters in Sulaymaniya complaining about not getting paid
(Musings On Iraq Baghdad Paid Half Of KRG’s Salaries, Kurdistan Didn’t Contribute Leading To
Protests)
2018 PUK official in south Kirkuk province said no security forces in villages south of Kirkuk city and under IS control Anbar councilmen said roads in west Anbar unsafe IS based in desert region along Syrian border
2020 Kataib Hezbollah told its fighters to prepare for more attacks upon US targets in Iraq
2021 Rab Allah held parade in Baghdad with 40-50 vehicles and weapons against PM Kazemi and
devaluation of dinar Threatened to cut off Kazemi’s ear Part of Kataib Hezbollah
2021 Report Sallyport had $2 bil contract with Pentagon to service Balad Air Base since 2014 Fuel
trucks to base were being attacked by Hashd Advisers to company Mantid Intl suggested deal with Iraqi company connected to PM Abadi and Dawa Sallyport signed another fuel deal with company run by Balad base commander and National Sec Adv Fayad who got Hashd to stop attacks on trucks Sallyport said Balad cmdr stole over $1 mil in equipment from base Sallyport signed another deal with company connected to Maliki
(Musings On Iraq PM Maliki Accused Of Taking Kickbacks On Defense Contract)
(Musings On Iraq US Company Paid Off PM Maliki To Service And Rob Iraqi Military Base)
(Musings On Iraq Corruption In Iraq An Interview With Stuart Bowen Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction)
(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Trouble Fighting Corruption Interview With Vincent Foulk Former US Anti-Graft Official)
2021 Warrant issued for fmr Babil Gov Abadi for falsifying docs on land grants meant for martyr
families and Saddam era political prisoners Mar 2020 sentenced to 7 yrs in prison for forging ID papers but never sent to jail
2023 Intl Arbitration Court ruled Turkey violated bilateral treaty with Iraq by exporting KRG’s oil Turkey
halted both Iraqi and KRG oil flows through pipeline Iraq wanted Turkey to pay $58 bil in damages Court only said Turkey had to pay $1.4 bil Court also said Iraq had to pay Turkey around $600 mil for unpaid fees on using pipeline Turkey shut down pipeline in spite Never paid damages to Iraq
(Musings On Iraq Iraq Wins Arbitration Case Against Turkey Exporting KRG’s Oil)
(Musings On Iraq Iraq Now Stating The Obvious, It’s Up To Turkey To Re-Open Oil Pieline)
(Musings On Iraq Iraqi Kurdistan’s Failed Independent Oil Strategy)
View the Iraq History Timelines
This Day In Iraqi History - Mar 24 Ayatollah Khamenei Pres Khatami decided to send Badr Brigade into Iraq to carry out ops vs US during invasion
1915 Gen Nixon made UK cmdr in Mesopotamia Told to hold Basra vilayet and all outlets to
sea
1955 PM Said renegotiated deal with Iraq Petroleum Company increasing revenues for govt
and expanding pipelines and pumping facilities to increase exports
1959 Gen Qasim withdrew Iraq from anti-Communist Baghdad Pact
(Musings On Iraq Revolutionary Times, Gen. Qasim And Iraq’s 1958 Coup, Interview With Western Kentucky’s Prof. Juan Romero)
1967 Pres Arif ordered some units of the Iraqi military to be put on alert as tensions grew
between Israel and Egypt
1973 Saddam visited Moscow to push for stronger Iraq-Soviet cooperation
(Musings On Iraq review Saddam His Rise and Fall)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq Since 1958, From Revolution To Dictatorship)
1982 Saddam took control of central front to try to stop Iranian Op Fath attack upon Maysan
1984 Iraq deployed French Super Etendard jets first time on raid on Iran’s Bushehr nuclear
power plant US provided satellite intelligence on facility before and after to assess raid Didn’t hit main target Was 1st of 6 attacks on facility lasting until 1988 Plant was unfinished and Iran was not working on it so wasted attack
(Musings On Iraq Review The Twilight War, The Secret History Of America’s Thirty-Year Conflict With Iran)
1986 UN condemned Iraq’s use of chemical weapons in Iran-Iraq War
1988 Mujahadeen e-Khalq backed by Iraq announced attack on Shush and Dezful in Iran
(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)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 1: The Battle for Khuzestan, September 1980-May 1982)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 2: Iran Strikes back, June 1982-December 1986)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 3: Iraq’s Triumph)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 4: The Forgotten Fronts)
1988 KDP base hit with poison gas in 2nd Anfal campaign Civilians rounded up and men
executed by govt forces
(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Anfal Campaign And The Destruction Of The Kurdish Opposition)
1991 Turkish Pres Ozal met Bush in US and told him an independent Kurdistan in Iraq would
lead to greater Kurdistan affecting Turkey Syrian Iran
1992 Iraqi army began shelling Kifri as sporadic fighting with Peshmerga continued
1998 French Pres Chirac told PM Blair that sanctions were killing kids in Iraq
2002 VP Cheney on CNN’s Late Edition called Saddam an evil man that U.S. would deal
with
(Musings On Iraq review Wanting War: Why the Bush Administration Invaded Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review Leap of Faith, Hubris Negligence, and America’s Greatest Foreign
Policy Tragedy)
2002 UK Defense Min Strategic Planning Group said that UK might have to keep forces in Iraq for stability after invasion
(Musings On Iraq Chilcot Inquiry Section 6.4 Planning and Preparation For A Post-Saddam Hussein Iraq, Mid-2001 to January 2003)
2003 Marine Task Force secured Nasiriya bridgehead US 3rd Infantry Div moved to take control of bridge at Kifl in Najaf
(Musings On Iraq review Voices From Iraq, A People’s History, 2003-2009)
2003 Sandstorm allowed ground forces cmdr Gen McKiernan to pause advance on Baghdad to clear out Fedayeen in south threatening supply lines
(Musings On Iraq Review Cobra II, The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq)
2003 US B-52 bombers began attacks on Republican Guard positions south of Baghdad
2003 British forces took Basra airport Heavy fighting with Fedayeen led British forces to
withdraw from Basra City
(Musings On Iraq review Target Basra, The High Octane Story of the Royal Marine Commandos In Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review Burning Horizon, British Veteran Accounts Of The Iraq War 2003)
2003 British military told govt local Iraqi militias putting up tough fight in Basra
2003 British received reports of uprising within Basra city put down by Fedayeen and Baath militia
2003 Iraqi report Russians said its sources at US CENTCOM found US failed to take Iraqi cities Were going to avoid them and attack from Anbar with more forces coming from Jordan that had been turned away from Turkey
2003 Red Cross warned of humanitarian emergency in Basra city as water ran out
2003 Dow Jones reported no WMD found at suspected facility in Najaf
2003 Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei and Pres Khatami recorded talking about sending forces to
5 Iraq cities to incite anti-US violence Decided to send Badr Brigade into Iraq
(Musings On Iraq Overview of Iran’s Influence In Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq Iran’s Policy Towards Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq Badr Organization A View Into Iraq’s Violent Past And Present)
(Musings On Iraq Early Reports On Iran’s Activities In Iraq)
2003 Arab League voted 21-1 demanding U.S. and UK forces withdraw from Iraq
2003 Putin called Bush and said there would be great suffering during war Bush said everything would be
under control
2003 Tariq Aziz gave presser saying US was after Iraq’s oil
2003 Al Qaeda spokesman called on Muslims to join the jihad against the US in Iraq
2003 Iraqi Army General Command release said Al Quds Army turned back US forces
outside Muthanna and forced them to retreat after suffering heavy losses Never happened Part of false reports Saddam got during war that Iraq was winning
(Musings On Iraq review Iraqi Perspectives Project, A View of Operation Iraqi Freedom from Saddam’s Senior Leadership)
2003 UK’s top military lawyer in Iraq argued Geneva Conventions be applied to prisoners Told it wouldn’t because Iraq part of War on Terror
2004 Ex-White House counterterrorism chief Clarke told 9/11 Commission Iraq not behind
1993 World Trade Center bombing Accusation came from Laurie Mylroie’s conspiracy theories
(Musings On Iraq Laurie Mylroie’s Convoluted Iraq-Terrorism Conspiracy Theory)
(Musings On Iraq Laurie Mylroie’s Iraq Conspiracy Theory Was Debunked By Captured Baath Documents)
2004 INC Chalabi aide and Fin Min official Sabah arrested for allegedly recycling old dinars
that were supposed to be destroyed Sabah told officials INC scheming to get state property from Finance Min and illegally sell it for a profit Also found INC kidnapping and attacking rivals
(Musings On Iraq Corruption In Iraq An Interview With Stuart Bowen Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction)
(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Trouble Fighting Corruption Interview With Vincent Foulk Former US Anti-Graft Official)
2006 Review of captured Iraqi documents and interviews with Baathists showed reason Saddam wanted
WMD and unwilling to admit that he’d destroyed them after Gulf War was because he thought they deterred Iran which he saw as existential threat Saddam also believed US wouldn’t invade in 2003
(Musings On Iraq Was Iraq An Imminent Threat To The West?)
2007 Report DynCorp contracted by US govt to provide sandbags police and training camps regularly
overpriced work Iraqi contractors repeatedly failed to do job DynCorp contracted to fill sandbags at Najaf police dept Paid $67k then contracted Iraqi company for $23k to do job Sandbags were useless and job had to be redone Built police camps in Baquba Basra Ramadi Fallujah Najaf all considered mostly bad due to subcontractors Built camp in Mosul for $2.1 bil that should have cost $600k Camp got bad review Air conditioners didn't work Used cheap furniture Foam instead of real mattresses Another police camp cancelled after spent $43.8 mil on it
(Musings On Iraq review The U.S. Army In The Iraq War: Volume 1, Invasion, Insurgency,
Civil War, 2003-2006)
2008 Report Sadrists complained about ceasefire Said they were attacked by PM Maliki and
US Claimed 2,000-2,500 of their followers arrested since start of ceasefire Blamed ISCI for attacks upon them in south Said they received new weapons and cash from Iran
2008 PM Maliki Def Min Obeidi Natl Sec Affairs Min Waeli and military advisors arrived in Basra
Announced Charge of Knights against Mahdi Army Maliki’s biggest rival in Basra Claimed op was against militias and criminals Didn’t go after Badr or Fadhila Started before reinforcements arrived
(Musings on Iraq US Army In The Iraq War Volume 2 Chapter 8 Crescendo: Maliki Against The Sadrists)
2008 Mahdi Army attacked joint US-Iraqi security station on edge of Sadr City
2008 Bush told Gen Petraeus and Amb Crocker US wanted PM Maliki to step up and he
finally did with Charge of Knights and US would back him
2008 Oil Min asked foreign companies to submit plans to develop Iraq’s oil and natural gas
fields for first time since 03
2008 Gen Petraeus blamed Iran for recent spate of rocket attacks upon Green Zone
2008 Report Bush was never a fan of INC’s Chalabi before 03 invasion
(Musings On Iraq Ahmad Chalabi Was Not President Bush’s Man For Iraq)
2008 Report Neither Sec State Powell nor Natl Sec Adv Rice objected to Pentagon taking
control of postwar Iraq Powell thought State would eventually take charge Rice thought US would only be in Iraq for a few months
2008 Report From 03-08 demand for electricity increased 125% Supply increased during
that period but couldn’t keep up with demand
2009 Sahwa commander in Salahaddin said that Ansar al-Sunna and ISI had
created new alliance after mediation by Al Qaeda’s Zawahiri
2009 Report Sahwa group in Baghdad said not paid nor gotten promised govt jobs Only 5000
sahwa got jobs in ISF US general claimed 94,000 sahwa would have jobs by end of year Said Health Min agreed to hire 3000 Education Min 10000 Oil Min 500
(Musings On Iraq Budget Problems Affecting Integration of Sons of Iraq)
2009 Report Head of Al Hadbaa said it rejected Peshmerga in Ninewa 200 Kurdish soldiers
and commander in Ninewa deserted summer 08 during conflict between Baghdad-Irbil US said PM Maliki replaced Kurdish officers and sent them to other provinces
2009 Report Iraqi schools deteriorating Shiite religious parties hired staff adding religious
holidays that reduced schooling Lacked enough schools and teachers Political parties threatened teachers
2009 Pres Talabani said after international Kurdish conference PKK would give up fighting
Turkey PKK said not true and Talabani didn’t control it
2010 PM Maliki announced new anti-corruption campaign Nothing happened
2011 Riot at Rusafa prison over overcrowding
2012 Baghdad and Irbil agreed to increased joint patrols in disputed areas of Diyala after
increase in insurgent attacks upon Kurds
2012 Report MP from KRG parliament said 50,000 fake bodyguards used by officials to
steal money
2013 Naqshibandi sent group to Ramadi protest site to try to push it towards violence against
govt
(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Resurgent Insurgency Interview With Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi)
(Musings On Iraq Understanding Iraq’s Protest Movements, An Interview With Kirk Sowell, Editor of Inside Iraqi Politics)
2013 Report Sec State Kerry stopped in Baghdad Urged PM Maliki to stop Iranian arms
shipments going through Iraq to Syria Iran both flew and trucked supplies to Syria through Iraq Kerry also talked with KRG Pres Barzani not to build independent pipeline to Turkey
2015 Iraq’s Foreign Min Jaafari met with Syrian Pres Assad Said Arab countries needed to
support Syria
2015 Report Hashd sent threatening letters to Iraqi army telling them not to ask for US help in Tikrit op
Soldiers in army’s 5th Div said got notes allegedly from Kataib Hezbollah Badr Asaib Ahl Al-Haq Khorasani Brigade Officer at Samarra Ops Command said 12 officers also got threats from Hashd
(Musings On Iraq Divisions Over Iraq War Exposed In Victory In Tikrit)
(Musings On Iraq Instrument Of Iran’s Power In Iraq And Syria Kataib Hezbollah)
(Musings On Iraq Badr Organization A View Into Iraq’s Violent Past And Present)
(Musings On Iraq Asaib Ahl Al-Haq From A Breakaway Sadr Militia To Defenders Of Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq Khorasani Brigade Another Iraq Militia That Returned Home From Syria To Fight The Insurgency)
2015 Report Govt gave up on frontal attack upon Tikrit advocated by Hashd US training 2-3
more army divisions for attack upon Mosul
2015 Report US defense official said stalled Tikrit op defeat for Hashd and Iran Said Iranian
aid not enough to take city
2016 Most ruling parties refused to send candidates for technocratic cabinet to PM Abadi
(Musings On Iraq A Review Of Iraq Premier Abadi’s Reform Program Interview With Reidar Visser)
2016 Supreme Council suspended its ministers in govt to protest PM Abadi’s reforms
2016 Head of IS Military Council Anbari killed
2016 Report 200 US soldiers set up artillery at Ain Assad base in Anbar Supposed to shell IS
targets in Anbar Base used for US intel for air strikes
2016 Report 100-200 US marines set up artillery base in Makhmour Ninewa 1 marine killed
in IS attack there
2018 Ninewa councilman said no plans to help displaced return provide services or rebuild province Said Baghdad ignored calls for help Said rebuilding slow and dependent upon intl organizations
2018 Public workers protested in Sulaymaniya Dohuk Irbil over being paid only half of
wages Baghdad paid half and KRG didn’t pay its half
(Musings On Iraq Baghdad Paid Half Of KRG’s Salaries, Kurdistan Didn’t Contribute
Leading To Protests)
2020 Interview with Hashd cmdr for west Anbar Musleh Said Hashd had forced out Danish
special forces in Qaim who were training tribal Hashd brigade Musleh said ISF too weak to protect Qaim
2020 Report 2018 Iraq had electricity capacity of 30.3 gigawatts but actual capacity was
only 11.9 Power plants supposed to run on gas but used substitutes which ran plants at less than 60% of capacity 2018 Iraq produced 105.4 terawatts/hr but only delivered 43.7 Meant 58.5% of electricity supply wasted Most lost during distribution due to old/damaged equipment theft poor maintenance Demand for power expected to continue to grow more than supply
2020 KRG arrested journalist who posted on Facebook govt used COVID as excuse not to
pay govt workers Held for 2 wks Released and then re-arrested 2 days later for defaming an official
2021 Report PM Kazemi’s anti-corruption comm was going to issue warrants for 7 senior Hashd leaders and 5
others for assassinations currency smuggling corruption Shiite parties got Kazemi to stop
(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s PM Touts Reforms That Haven’t Happened To Claim Economic Crisis Over)
2024 Report Strikes by KRG govt workers spreading around Sulaymaniya and Halabja
provinces over not being paid for months
View the Iraq History Timelines
This Day In Iraqi History - Mar 23 Nuri al-Said became PM 1st of 9 times Went after opposition Closed newspapers Took control of parliament to assure passage of Anglo-Iraq Treaty
1915 French Amb to UK Cambon suggested that UK and France begin discussions on
dividing Ottoman Empire Would lead to creation of Iraq
1920 PM Lloyd George cabinet said wouldn’t object to Hashemite rule in Iraq if supported by
locals
(Musings On Iraq review Empires of the Sand, The Struggle For Mastery In The Middle East 1789-1923)
1921 UK Foreign Sec told French Amb to UK that London had run into problems and large
expenses in Mesopotamia and that had led to decision to give the Arabs their own govt
(Musings On Iraq review Inventing Iraq: The Failure of Nation Building and a History Denied)
1923 UK Iraq commission final report said British would not withdraw from Iraq Would lead to collapse
of King Faisal and humiliation for British
1930 Nuri al-Said became PM for 1st of 9 times Went after opposition Silenced press Controlled
parliament Was picked by King Faisal to assure passage of Anglo-Iraq Treaty
(Musings On Iraq Is Iraq’s Prime Minister Maliki More Like Premier Nuri al-Sa’id Than Saddam? An Interview With Historian Phebe Marr)
(Musings On Iraq Revolutionary Times, Gen. Qasim And Iraq’s 1958 Coup, Interview With Western Kentucky’s Prof. Juan Romero)
(Musings On Iraq review The Chatham House Version and other Middle-Eastern Studies)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Democratic Moment)
(Musings On Iraq review A History of Iraq)
1935 Cleric Ghita met with Baghdad lawyers and issued manifesto demanding more Shiite
representation in govt
(Musings On Iraq review The Shi’is Of Iraq)
1946 PM Suwaidi submitted temporary budget to Senate 9 Senators absent to block its passage to force PM
to resign
1970 Communist leader in Baghdad Khadri found shot in street Baathists suspected Communists were
rounded up and executed afterward
(Musings On Iraq review A People’s History Of Iraq, The Iraqi Communist Party, Workers’ Movements, and the Left 1924-2004)
(Musings On Iraq review Red Star Over Iraq, Iraqi Communism Before Saddam)
(Musings On Iraq A History Of The Iraqi Communist Party Interview With Univ of East Anglia’s Johan Franzen)
1974 Soviet Defense Minister Grechko arrived in Iraq to try to find compromise with Kurds Iran and US
told Barzani not to make any deals
1975 Mustafa Barzani and around 100,000 KDP members left Iraq for Iran ending Kurdish revolt
(Musings On Iraq review The Kurds, A Modern History)
(Musings On Iraq review Kurds of Iraq, Tragedy and Hope)
(Musings On Iraq review The Great Betrayal, How America Abandoned The Kurds And Lost The Middle East)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq & the Kurdish Question, 1958-70)
(Musings On Iraq When The Shah and Nixon Manipulated The Kurds)
1981 Iran said it would not accept ceasefire with Iraq as long as Saddam was in power
1982 Iran launched main attack in Op Fath to push towards Maysan Flanked 2 Iraqi divisions Was
largest military operation up to that time in war 100,000 Iranian and 70,000 Iraqi troops involved
(Musings On Iraq review Iran-Iraq War Volume 4: The Forgotten Fronts)
1984 CIA confirmed Iraq used nerve agents against Iran
1985 Iran ended Op Badr failed attempt to attack Basra city Iraq lost 20,000 casualties Iran 14,000
killed
(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)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 1: The Battle for Khuzestan, September 1980-May 1982)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 2: Iran Strikes back, June 1982-December 1986)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 3: Iraq’s Triumph)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 4: The Forgotten Fronts)
1988 State Dept spokesman said that Iran might have used chemical artillery shells on Halabja Part
of Reagan admin defense of Iraq’s gas attack on Halabja
1988 PUK base in Sulaymaniya attacked in 2nd Anfal Campaign
(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Anfal Campaign And The Destruction Of The Kurdish Opposition)
1991 Sadoun Hammadi, a Shiite became premier as Saddam tried to appease Shiites while putting down
uprising after Gulf War
(Musings On Iraq interview with National Univ of Singapore’s Fanar Haddad on the Impact of the 1991 Uprising)
(Musings On Iraq Remembering The 1991 Uprising In Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq Saddam’s View of Iraq’s 1991 Uprising)
(Musings On Iraq When The US Helped Start A Rebellion In Iraq That It Didn’t Want)
1997 Memo told Iraqi officials to hide material, documents, equipment from U.N. weapons inspectors
(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 Report Sec 1.1 UK Iraq Strategy 1990 To 2000)
(Musings On Iraq Charles Duelfer’s Account Of The End Of The 1990s U.N. Inspections)
(Musings On Iraq review The Saddam Tapes)
(Musings On Iraq review Out Of The Ashes, The Resurrection of Saddam Hussein)
(Musings On Iraq review The Greatest Threat, Iraq, Weapons of Mass Destruction, And The Growing Crisis Of Global Security)
1998 UK issued terrorist alert on intel that Iraq trying to smuggle anthrax into country
1999 Govt executed 56 people after Sadrist uprising in Basra
2002 Joint Chiefs did paper drill running through Iraq invasion 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)
2003 British commandos took control of Um Qasr port while heavy fighting broke out in the town
(Musings On Iraq review Target Basra, The High Octane Story of the Royal Marine Commandos In Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review Special Operations Forces in Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review Voices From Iraq, A People’s History, 2003-2009)
2003 US Marines reached Nasiriya Were to seize bridges quickly Found army convoy got lost in city and attacked Marine commander ordered unit to rescue soldiers and take 2 bridges without plan Fought Fedayeen Led to biggest battle of invasion 29 Marines dead Countless Iraqi casualties
(Musings On Iraq review Ambush Alley, The Most Extraordinary Battle of The Iraq War)
2003 US B-52 bombers carried out raids on Baghdad Iraqi govt claimed 106 civilians killed
2003 British Tornado jet accidentally shot down by US patriot missile killing 2 crewmen
2003 US soldier Jessica Lynch taken prisoner by Iraqi forces during invasion when her supply convoy
attacked
2003 32 Apache helicopters sent on raid to destroy Republican Guard units in Karbala Turned back by
Iraqi fire
2003 US forces reached outside Najaf Claimed they found WMD facility Story proved false
2003 CENTCOM commander Gen Franks said no doubt Iraq had WMD
2003 White House said no question Iraq had WMD and that they would be found
(Musings On Iraq Iraq One Of The Worst Intelligence Failures In US History)
2003 US intel officials leaked to press they felt pressured by White House to come up with intel to
justify Iraq war
2003 SCIRI leadership said US was going to impose a military commander on Iraq and that should be opposed Said Islamic world turned against US for refusing to support the Iraqi people to overthrow Saddam Said wouldn’t cooperate with US Was because US refused to allow SCIRI to take part in invasion
2006 Report on captured Iraq docs Russian amb gave detailed info to Iraq on US invasion force and
plans
(Musings On Iraq Russia Provided Iraq With Details Of US Plans Right Before Invasion)
2006 Report on captured Iraq docs Confirmed Iraq and bin Laden met in Feb 1995 to talk about
cooperation Iraq agreed to air bin Laden’s anti-Saudi tapes
2007 US House of Reps voted to set deadline for US withdrawal by 8/31/08
2007 Iran captured 15 UK Marines in Basra and offered to trade them for release of Asaib Ahl Al-Haq
leader Qais Khazali
(Musings On Iraq 2007 Political Kidnappings In Iraq Involving Asaib Ahl Al-Haq)
(Musings On Iraq Asaib Ahl Al-Haq From A Breakaway Sadr Militia To Defenders Of Iraq)
2007 Dep PM Zubaie wounded in ISI assassination attempt with a car bomb and suicide bomber that was
one of his own bodyguards
(Musings On Iraq review Suicide Bombers In Iraq, The Strategy and Ideology of Martyrdom)
2007 Sadrist website accused Dawa and SCIRI of selling it out to U.S. during Surge
2007 Fmr Najaf police chief said he was forced to hire 400 officers by Shiite parties Said none of
them were trained 1 officer fired for smuggling weapons used to attack UK Was returned to work and given promotion on orders from Baghdad Said torture was routine and police went after political rivals Dhi Qar police chief said he couldn’t get rid of rogue officers because they were protected by political parties
2007 Report Mahdi Army back on streets of Ghaziliya and Shula Baghdad Fired mortars at Mansour and
Yarmouk
(Musings On Iraq review Voices From Iraq, A People’s History, 2003-2009)
(Musings On Iraq Columbia University Charts Sectarian Cleansing Of Baghdad)
2007 Insurgents out on streets of Haditha Demanded residents take down satellite TV dishes claiming
they spread vice and immorality
2007 Report PM Maliki offered $200 to returnees to Baghdad Said he would evict squatters as part
of Baghdad security plan Baghdad Migration Ministry bureau director said he refused to tell families to return because of on going violence
2007 Report State Dept gave DynCorp $800 mil contract to train Iraqi police It hired Iraqi company that
hired an Italian company Businesses took most of the money with little going to actual training
(Musings On Iraq review The U.S. Army In The Iraq War: Volume 1, Invasion, Insurgency, Civil
War, 2003-2006)
2008 Mahdi Army in Sadr City started firing rockets at Green Zone after 6 month break Over 1,000 fired
by mid-May Left 269 casualties Started attacking checkpoints around Sadr City Some police joined the militia By end of day took half the checkpoints around Sadr City
(Musings on Iraq US Army In The Iraq War Volume 2 Chapter 8 Crescendo: Maliki Against The Sadrists)
2008 Report US asked UK to send troops back into Basra but London refused because set on
withdrawal
(Musings On Iraq Review The Report of the Iraq Inquiry, Executive Summary)
2009 Pres Talabani said PKK should stop fighting Turkey or leave Iraq
2009 Turkish Pres Gul met KRG PM Barzani in Baghdad Pushed improved relations and fighting
PKK
(Musings On Iraq Possible End To The PKK-Turkish Conflict)
(Musings On Iraq review Turkey, the US and Iraq)
2011 National Reconciliation Commission claimed 5 insurgent groups agreed to put down arms and join
political process
(Musings On Iraq Protests Continue In Iraq)
2011 Parliament committee said Iraq had been asked to join Gulf Cooperation Council Iraq refused to join
GCC’s Island Shield security forces because it had intervened in Bahrain
(Musings On Iraq Iraq Will Have To Wait For Its Return To The Regional Stage)
2011 Bahrain’s Foreign Min Tweeted that the GCC wanted the Arab Summit in Baghdad canceled for
Iraq’s criticism of its internal affairs
2012 ISI broke 19 of its men out of Kirkuk prison
2013 Report Obama admin didn’t seem to care about Iraq anymore Wasn’t working on abuses Hadn’t
gotten PM Maliki to stop Iranian aid for Syria crossing through Iraq Gave up on huge civilian presence after military withdrawal Salah al-Mutlaq said no one thought US had influence in Iraq anymore
2013 Report Parliament’s human rights comm blocked by ISF from visiting secret prison in Green Zone
MP said no minister had ever agreed to questioning over abuses Justice Min was not dealing with issue PM Maliki govt unhelpful
2015 Hashd looted and destroyed 8 houses in Sadiya, Diyala Adviser to Diyala governor killed blamed on
Hashd
(Musings On Iraq review A Stranger in Your Own City, Travels in the Middle East’s Long War)
2015 Soldiers in army’s 5th Div received notes from Hashd telling them not to ask for help
from the Great Satan/US or they would pay
2016 Senior Iranian army cmdr said special forces were being sent to Iraq as advisers Also served
as snipers
2017 Sadr interview Said he thought Hashd law would give it more power Said only army should
be in charge of security Sadr called for Hashd to be dissolved after IS defeated Said Hashd wanted to fight in Syria and Yemen Feared they would harm Iraq Was because Hashd led by his rivals
2017 Report 230 civilians killed in 3 buildings hit in airstrike in west Mosul Mar 22 Original count
was 100 IS was using building with human shields Defense Min claimed casualty reports came from IS Said ISF was protecting civilians Threatened legal action against media
(Musings On Iraq Mosul Campaign Day 158, March 23, 2017)
2017 Security source said 3,864 civilians killed in months worth of fighting to free west Mosul
from IS Another 22,579 wounded
2017 Report while visiting US PM Abadi said Hashd would not run in elections They did
2017 Defense Min said reports of high civilian casualties in Mosul came from IS Part of govt info
campaign to deny civilian deaths during battle
2018 PKK said it would withdraw from Sinjar after Turkey threatened military operation there
(Musings On Iraq Turkey Bluffs Its Way Into Getting PKK To Withdraw From Iraq’s Sinjar)
2018 Shell sold stake in West Qurna 1 field in Basra to Japanese company Start of major oil companies withdrawing from Iraq
2022 Human Rights Report LGBT Iraqis were routinely attacked by family members and
armed groups without punishment
View the Iraq History Timelines
This Day In Iraqi History - Mar 22 Over 200 civilians killed in US airstrike on building used by IS in west Mosul Abadi govt would launch disinformation campaign denying that it happened
1921 UK Cabinet approved Colonial Sec Churchill’s choice of Faisal as new ruler in
Mesopotamia
(Musings On Iraq Churchill In His Own Words On Mesopotamia/Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review Cairo 1921, Ten Days That Made the Middle East)
(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 Imagining The Nation, Nationalism, Sectarianism and Socio-Political Conflict in Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review The Chatham House Version and other Middle-Eastern Studies)
(Musings On Iraq review When God Made Hell, The British Invasion of Mesopotamia and the Creation of Iraq, 1914-1921)
(Musings On Iraq review Empires of the Sand, The Struggle For Mastery In The Middle East 1789-1923)
1921 PM Lloyd George told Colonial Sec Churchill that Sir Percy Cox should return to Iraq and
set stage for Faisal becoming king
1933 UK Amb to Iraq said that parliament full of politicians who never meant what they said Institution
was a sham
1945 Arab League formed Iraq was one of the architects
1961 Qasim govt closed KDP newspaper Last Kurdish paper still publishing
1973 Kuwait demanded Iraq withdraw its troops from its territory after gunfight on Mar 20 Iraq refused
1974 CIA memo said neither US nor Iran wanted a Kurdish govt but didn't want its conflict with Iraq
resolved Just wanted to weaken Iraq
1975 Iran ended military aid to KDP Kurds began fleeing to Iran
(Musings On Iraq review Killing Hope, U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II)
(Musings On Iraq review The Kurds, A Modern History)
(Musings On Iraq review Kurds of Iraq, Tragedy and Hope)
(Musings On Iraq review The Great Betrayal, How America Abandoned The Kurds And Lost The Middle East)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq & the Kurdish Question, 1958-70)
(Musings On Iraq When The Shah and Nixon Manipulated The Kurds)
1975 CIA Dir Colby asked Sec State Kissinger if he’d answered Barzani request for aid Told
secret operations were not missionary work
1977 Baath Regional Command kicked out members who wanted leniency after anti-govt riots during
Karbala pilgrimage
1981 Iraq fired missiles at Dezful and Ahvaz Iran in shift in war as Iraq stopped major land attacks
1983 Helicopter crash revealed Italy providing advanced electronic equipment to Iraq
1984 Soviet Union agreed to build a new nuclear power plant in Iraq to replace Osirak facility destroyed
by Israel in 1981
1985 Iraqi counterattack forced Iranians back into Maysan-Basra marshes
(Musings On Iraq review Iran-Iraq War Volume 2: Iran Strikes back, June 1982-December 1986)
1985 Tehran Tabriz Shiraz and Isfahan bombed by Iraqi air force War of Cities
(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)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 1: The Battle for Khuzestan, September 1980-May 1982)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 2: Iran Strikes back, June 1982-December 1986)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 3: Iraq’s Triumph)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 4: The Forgotten Fronts)
1988 Start of 2nd Anfal Campaign to destroy PUK and KDP bases in Sulaymaniya and Kirkuk
1988 Qara Dagh, Sulaymaniya hit with chemical artillery shells as start of 2nd Anfal Campaign
(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Anfal Campaign And The Destruction Of The Kurdish Opposition)
1990 Canadian Gerald Bull working on supergun for Iraq found dead in Brussels Mossad believed to be
responsible
(Musings On Iraq review Al-Hussein, Iraqi Indigenous Conventional Arms Projects, 1980-2003)
1991 US shot down another Iraqi fighter after warned it no flights during uprisings
1991 Turkey held second meeting with KDP and PUK Talabani said this marked a new page in Kurdish-
Turkish relations
(Musings On Iraq review The Kurds, A Modern History)
(Musings On Iraq review Kurds of Iraq, Tragedy and Hope)
(Musings On Iraq review Turkey, the US and Iraq)
2002 UK Foreign Office Pol Dir Ricketts memo to Foreign Sec Straw said US scrambling to find Iraq-Al
Qaeda links and argument unconvincing
(Musings On Iraq Overview of America’s Policy Towards Iraq: From The Clinton Years To The
Sectarian War of 2006)
2002 UK Foreign Office Pol Dir Ricketts memo to Foreign Sec Straw said no signs Iraq working on its
WMD or nuke programs
2002 Head of MI5 memo to Home Office Said Iraq not connected to any anti-West terrorism since
it tried to kill ex-Pres Bush in 1993 Found no evidence Iraq connected to 9/11 Were reports Al Qaeda and Iraq met no intel that two had cooperated
(Musings On Iraq 2002 British Memo Said Iraq Not A Threat To The West)
2002 UK Def Min Hoon warned Blair if UK helped overthrow Saddam it would have to stay in Iraq for
years
(Musings On Iraq Review The Report of the Iraq Inquiry, Executive Summary)
(Musings On Iraq Chilcot Inquiry Section 6.1 Development of the Military Options for an Invasion of Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq Chilcot Inquiry Section 6.4 Planning and Preparation For A Post-Saddam Hussein Iraq, Mid-2001 to January 2003)
2002 Bush said war with Iraq not imminent but Saddam was a bad leader who gassed his own
people and had WMD and could give them to terrorists Bush said he supported regime change
2003 British forces seized Rumaila oil field in Basra
(Musings On Iraq review Special Operations Forces in Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review Burning Horizon, British Veteran Accounts Of The Iraq War 2003)
2003 US Marines thought no more resistance within Um Qasr in Basra and moved towards port
2003 Iraqi 51st Mechanized Div attacked Coalition forces but destroyed by casualties and defections in Basra
2003 US intel saw trucks full of Fedayeen moving through Karbala Gap 1st real reports on this force which US knew little about
(Musings On Iraq US Army History of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter The Invasion of Iraq)
2003 US forces in Samawa attacked for first time by Fedayeen
2003 Saddam received report large U.S. force attacking west Iraq Led him to believe invasion coming
from Jordan not Kuwait
(Musings On Iraq review Iraqi Perspectives Project, A View of Operation Iraqi Freedom from Saddam’s Senior Leadership)
2003 Iraqi 1st Air Defense Region claimed it had averted or shot down 130 cruise missiles planes helicopters Didn’t happen Part of false reports Saddam got that Iraq was winning war
2003 CIA officials told Wash Post they were always skeptical of Iraq-Niger uranium story that was used
in Bush State of Union
(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)
2003 Sec Def Rumsfeld demanded that all Americans to run Iraqi ministries be from Pentagon ORHA
head Garner said no time for replacements
(Musings On Iraq Special Inspector General For Iraq Reconstruction Hard Lessons Chapter 4 Staging in Kuwait)
(Musings On Iraq on Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Hard Lessons Chapter 3 The Department of Defense Takes Charge)
(Musings On Iraq review State of Denial, Bush At War, Part III)
2003 International protests in several major cities against Iraq war
2004 Unemployed protest in Basra turned violent Stones and Molotov cocktails thrown at British forces
2004 Natl Sec Adv Rice Wash Post OpEd said would have been irresponsible not to look for link
between Iraq and 9/11
2006 US Iraq cmdr Gen Casey told Def Sec Rumsfeld civil war not imminent nor inevitable Casey
played down civil war throughout spring
(Musings On Iraq US Army History of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 19 The Iraqi Civil War Comes Into The Open, January-June 2006)
2007 Mahdi Army and insurgents fought in 5 Baghdad neighborhoods Came amidst many western
reports that Mahdi Army had withdrawn from streets
(Musings On Iraq Columbia University Charts Sectarian Cleansing Of Baghdad)
2007 Lord Butler told UK parliament UK and US didn't have conclusive intel on Iraq’s WMD UK intel
said in Aug 02 that it knew little about Iraq’s WMD since 1988 yet Blair told govt intel was extensive and authoritative
(Musings On Iraq Review The Report of the Iraq Inquiry, Executive Summary)
2007 Spec Insp Gen for Iraq Recon issued review of US reconstruction Said Pentagon had no strategy
before and after invasion No unity of effort Little oversight and coordination between US agencies
(Musings On Iraq review Losing Iraq, Inside The Post War Reconstruction Fiasco)
(Musings On Iraq review State of Denial, Bush At War, Part III)
(Musings On Iraq review Hard Lessons, The Iraq Reconstruction Experience)
2007 Sadrists attacked Electricity Dist Dept and burned Fadhila HQ in Basra Came after Sadrist fmr dir
of Electricity Dist Dept arrested by UK Sadrists claimed Fadhila behind arrest Former director accused of corruption and fraud Tribes and Sadrists accused Basra governor from Fadhila of corruption nepotism running oil smuggling rings
2007 SCIRI HQ in Kut Wasit hit by mortars as SCIRI-Sadr rivalry increased in city
2007 GAO Report Hundreds of thousands perhaps millions of tons of munitions were left unguarded by
US after 2003 invasion Much of it looted by insurgents US expected friendly environment after invasion which was why left depots unguarded
2008 PM Maliki told Gen Petraeus pre-emptive action had to be taken immediately in Basra Didn’t
want to wait for plan Said he was going to Basra next day Blamed UK for problems in Basra Asked for US support Petraeus said yes Warned ISF not ready
(Musings on Iraq US Army In The Iraq War Volume 2 Chapter 8 Crescendo: Maliki Against The Sadrists)
2009 Report US released 100s of prisoners from Camp Bucca under SOFA ISF afraid releasees would
revive militias and insurgency Intel officer said some regrouping as special groups in Basra and Baghdad while others joining ISI cells in Baghdad and Anbar
2010 9 provinces from central and southern Iraq demanded recount in election
2010 Iran got Shiite parties to agree to keep Talabani as president
2010 Preliminary deal between Baghdad Shell and Mitsubishi to collect and exploit natural gas
from Basra oil fields expired 1st of many problems with deal Iraq didn’t have money to pay companies or infrastructure to deliver gas to power plants
(Musings On Iraq Shell Natural Gas Deal In Basra Delayed Again)
(Musings On Iraq Shell-Mitsubishi Natural Gas Deal May Be Delayed Indefinitely)
2011 Gorran told Pres Barzani had to make good on his promises of reform after protests in Sulaymaniya
2011 When police tried to break up protest in Halabja violence broke out with one policeman killed
(Musings On Iraq interview with journalist Wladimir Van Wilgenburg on 2011 KRG protests)
2011 Oil Min Luaibi said Iraq would reach 6.5 mill/bar/day oil production by 2014 Didn’t happen
2012 Report PM Maliki attempted to centralize power Set up his own chain of command within security
forces Appointed commanders Tried to control intelligence services
(Musings On Iraq Argument For Maliki Being Iraq’s Next Strongman)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq After America, Strongmen, Sectarians, Resistance)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq From War To A New Authoritarianism)
(Musings On Iraq Is Iraq’s Prime Minister Becoming A Dictator? An Interview With Kirk Sowell Of Inside Iraqi Politics)
(Musings On Iraq Is Iraq’s Prime Minister Maliki More Like Premier Nuri al-Sa’id Than Saddam? An Interview With Historian Phebe Marr)
2013 ISI took over Buhriz Diyala Set up roadblocks Took over police station Raised its flag then
withdrew
2013 Sadrist cleric gave sermon calling for PM Maliki to step down Said security and economy all
suffered under Maliki
2014 ISIS seized control of Buhriz Diyala Held town for two days Hashd destroyed homes burned 3
mosques after retaken Killed at least 2 civilians
2015 Badr head Amiri called Iraqi army weaklings for asking for Coalition air strikes Rejected any
help from the U.S. in war vs IS Said Iran’s Gen Sulemani provided aid whenever needed
(Musings On Iraq Divisions Over Iraq War Exposed In Victory In Tikrit)
(Musings On Iraq Badr Organization A View Into Iraq’s Violent Past And Present)
(Musings On Iraq Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ Commander General Suleimani And His Role In Iraq, An Interview With The New Yorker’s Dexter Filkins)
(Musings On Iraq What Was Behind Iran’s Social Media Campaign Promoting Gen Suleimani In Iraq?)
(Musings On Iraq Iran’s Propaganda Work In Iraq Interview With Tel Aviv Univ’s Dr Raz Zimmt)
2016 Sadr said he had come up with 90 nominations for Abadi’s new cabinet
(Musings On Iraq interview with Cambridge’s Michael Clark on Sadr, protests and PM Abadi’s reforms)
2017 Def Sec Mattis said US troops would remain in Iraq after IS defeated to help Iraqi forces
2017 Building hit by US air strikes in west Mosul Civil Defense teams and Iraqi
general said 100-108 bodies found in rubble Ended up being over 200 dead
(Musings On Iraq Mosul Campaign Day 158, March 23, 2017)
2017 Report 254 civilians dead and wounded in Mosul from IS mortar fire and Coalition and Iraqi
air strikes
(Musings On Iraq Mosul Campaign Day 157, March 22, 2017)
2017 IS seized Rajm al-Hadid neighborhood in west Mosul 1st time IS seized territory since
start of battle for city
(Musings On Iraq Mosul campaign Day 166-167 March 31-April 1, 2017)
2018 KRG demanded that PKK withdraw from Sinjar to protect civilians from threatened Turkish
military op
(Musings On Iraq Turkey Bluffs Its Way Into Getting PKK To Withdraw From Iraq’s Sinjar)
2018 Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights claimed political parties bought voting cards to
cheat in election
2021 Report constant attacks on activists Hampered organizing political parties for election
(Musings On Iraq UN Report On Violence Against Iraqi Protesters)
(Musings On Iraq United Nations Faults Iraq For Failing To Protect Protesters)
2023 Displacement Min Jabro said Sudani govt wanted to end displacement problem in 6 mo
Said govt needed to rebuild fmr war areas provide security services infrastructure to encourage people to return Didn’t happen
(Musings On Iraq Iraqi Govt Wants To End Displacement In 6 Months)
View the Iraq History Timelines
Review Chief Warrant Officer 4 Timothy McWilliams, with Schlosser, Nicholas, U.S. Marines in Battle, Fallujah, November-December 2004, Marine Corps University, 2014
McWilliams, Chief Warrant Officer 4 Timothy, with Schlosser, Nicholas, U.S. Marines in Battle, Fallujah, November-December 2004, Marine Corps University, 2014
U.S. Marines in Battle, Fallujah, November-December 2004 was part of a series of books released by the Marine Corps to document its involvement in the Iraq War. It is a detailed military history covering the fighting by Marines and soldiers during Operation Phantom Fury the 2nd Battle of Fallujah. That is also its drawback as there is nothing on the politics or impact of the battle.
Things begin with some background as to why Fallujah was targeted. By 2004 the city had become a major insurgent base in Iraq. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his Al Qaeda in Iraq group amongst others had a presence there. In March 2004 the U.S. attacked the city after a group of security contractors were killed but it was suddenly ended after protests by Iraqi politicians. In November 2004 the Marines and Army massed again to take the city. The book doesn’t explain that this decision was made because the U.S. and Iraqi governments wanted to clear out militants from Fallujah before the January elections. That’s because the authors focus solely upon the military operations. That’s the major flaw of the work.
The vast majority of the narrative focuses upon how the Marines and Army took Fallujah. It goes through all the units and commanders involved, the battle plan, and then how they carried it out. It goes into great detail about where each unit was deployed, how it moved through the city and what resistance they faced. Thankfully there are maps included to give context to all the text. There are also some firsthand accounts by Marines and soldiers who were involved in the fighting. Even so the writing can get dry at times as it goes over this company moving here and that battalion going there.
There are several highlights. First, the U.S. forces moved so quickly through the city the insurgents were never able to put up an organized defense. Second, the militants put their most skilled fighters in the center of Fallujah and had kill zones and fortified houses that proved very difficult for the Americans to clear. Halfway through the fight the U.S. switched from storming houses for example to simply blowing them up. Third, the speed of the American advance also meant there were many areas that were never thoroughly cleared meaning insurgents constantly showed up in the rear. Finally, there were still fighters in Fallujah even after Operation Phantom Fury was over which hindered the rebuilding of the city. Again because the book lacks the larger context it doesn’t mention that Fallujah remained largely destroyed for years after the battle and became a major insurgent center later on.
If one wants a detailed military history of Operation Phantom Fury than U.S. Marines in Battle, Fallujah would be a good starting point. It gives you all the ins and outs of the American operation to take the city. At the same time because it’s just about the fighting other books are needed to give the larger context of why the battle was launched and how it played out in the larger Iraq War.
Link to all of Musings On Iraq’s book reviews listed by topic
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