This Day In Iraqi History May 3 Saddam had Algerian Foreign Min assassinated after accusing Algeria of siding with Iran in Iran-Iraq War

 

1913 US consulate in Baghdad reported Ottomans ordered documents to be published in

Arabic and Turkish in Baghdad vilayet as concession to Arab demands

Review Losing The Golden Hour, An Insider’s View of Iraq’s Reconstruction

Stephenson, James, Losing The Golden Hour, An Insider’s View of Iraq’s Reconstruction, Potomac Books, Inc., 2007

 

The “Golden Hour” is the time after a war has ended when rebuilding and reforms can be carried out in a country before the public turns against them. James Stephenson was the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) chief in Iraq from 2004-2005. In his Losing The Golden Hour, An Insider’s View of Iraq’s Reconstruction he argues that America failed to rebuild Iraq because of lack of planning, experience and bickering.

This Day In Iraqi History - May 2 King Faisal II born

 

1854 Riot in Mosul versus Ottoman reforms Attacked Christians and Jews for businesses they ran

and control of taxes that caused resentment

(Musings On Iraq review Christianity in Iraq)

This Day In Iraqi History - May 1 British decided on pre-emptive attack upon Iraqi army outside Habaniya airbase in Anbar

 

1919 War Min Churchill wrote PM George that British army was overstretched with new

additions like Mesopotamia

(Musings On Iraq Churchill In His Own Words On Mesopotamia/Iraq)

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

Problems Completing Iraq’s Grand Faw Port And Development Road

The National recently ran an article “What is Iraq’s Development Road and will it challenge US and China trade routes?” The piece went into the huge potential of several connected projects Baghdad is currently working on. The first is the Grand Faw Port which could be one of the largest in the Persian Gulf. Then there is the Development Road which will build a highway and railway system from Faw to Turkey to allow trade from Asia to reach Europe. A telecommunications route has also just been added. This has received the backing of companies from South Korea, Kuwait, Turkey, Qatar and the UAE.

This Day In Iraqi History - Apr 30 Iraqi army surrounded UK Habaniya airbase hoping to force British troops out of Iraq

 

1915 Ottoman mayor murdered in Najaf for trying to draft men for war and taking money

from shrines

Security In Iraq Apr 22-28, 2024

Violence in Iraq during the fourth week of April 2024 was dominated by pro-Iran groups. The Islamic State was inactive once again.