Time line of Iraq

T-72-Fort Hood — An Asad Babil main battle tank on display at Fort Hood. A full equipped Asad Babil on display at Fort Hood. The tank features a cylindrical electro-optical countermeasures pod on the left side of the turret on the 4th of December, 2008.

For more on NATO actions in Iraq, see- NATO.

Overview[]

Middle East geographic — A NASA globe software World Wind satellite image of the Middle East.

Iraq (/ɪˈræk/, Listeni/ɪˈrɑːk/, or /aɪˈræk/; Arabic: العراق‎‎ al-‘Irāq; Kurdish: عێراق‎ Eraq), officially known as the Republic of Iraq (Arabic: جمهورية العـراق‎‎ About this sound Jumhūrīyyat al-‘Irāq; Kurdish: كۆماريى عێراق‎ Komari Eraq) is a country in Western Asia, bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, Kuwait to the southeast, Saudi Arabia to the south, Jordan to the southwest, and Syria to the west. The capital, and largest city, is Baghdad. The main ethnic groups are Arabs and Kurds; others include Assyrians, Turkmen, Shabakis, Yazidis, Armenians, Mandeans, Circassians, and Kawliya. Around 95% of the country's 36 million citizens are Shi'a or Sunni Muslims, with Christianity, Yarsan, Yezidism, and Mandeanism also present.

The region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, historically known as Mesopotamia, is most often referred to as humanity's cradle of civilization. It was here that mankind first began to read, write, create laws, and live in cities under an organised government, notably Uruk, from which Iraq was derived. Its nations were major players in Biblical times.

Iraq has a narrow section of coastline measuring 58 km (36 mi) on the northern Persian Gulf and its territory encompasses the Mesopotamian Alluvial Plain, the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, and the eastern part of the Syrian Desert. Two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, run south through the center of Iraq and flow into the Shatt al-Arab near the Persian Gulf. These rivers and canals provide Iraq with significant amounts of fertile land, which is further enhanced by irrigation. Most of the major towns are found on or next to these rivers.

Iraq's people are mostly Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims. They are of a mixed Semitic, Turkic, Georgian and Persian ethnic stock. They also speak the official Iraqi, Baghdadi, Mosul, Kikuck and Basra Arabic dialects, along with standardised Arabic and some Kuwaiti and Gulf Arabic. Some also speech Persian, Turkoman, English, Turkish and Kurdish to varying degrees. Arabic is the official and majority language, with Kurdish in second place and recognised as a regional language.

Iraq has a coastline measuring 58 km (36 miles) on the northern Persian Gulf and encompasses the Mesopotamian Alluvial Plain, the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, and the eastern part of the Syrian Desert. Two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, run south through Iraq and into the Shatt al-Arab near the Persian Gulf. These rivers provide Iraq with significant amounts of fertile land.

The region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, historically known as Mesopotamia, is often referred to as the cradle of civilisation. It was here that mankind first began to read, write, create laws, and live in cities under an organised government—notably Uruk, from which "Iraq" is derived. The area has been home to successive civilisations since the 6th millennium BC. Iraq was the centre of the Akkadian, Sumerian, Assyrian, and Babylonian empires. It was also part of the Median, Achaemenid, Hellenistic, Parthian, Sassanid, Roman, Rashidun, Umayyad, Abbasid, Ayyubid, Mongol, Safavid, Afsharid, and Ottoman empires.

Iraq's modern borders were mostly demarcated in 1920 by the League of Nations when the Ottoman Empire was divided by the Treaty of Sèvres. Iraq was placed under the authority of the United Kingdom as the British Mandate of Mesopotamia. A monarchy was established in 1921 and the Kingdom of Iraq gained independence from Britain in 1932. In 1958, the monarchy was overthrown and the Iraqi Republic created. Iraq was controlled by the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party from 1968 until 2003. After an invasion by the United States and its allies in 2003, Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath Party was removed from power and multi-party parliamentary elections were held in 2005. The American presence in Iraq ended in 2011, but the Iraqi insurgency continued and intensified as fighters from the Syrian Civil

Timeline[]

Arabic times[]

~634- The first organized conflict between local Arab tribes and Persian forces seems to have been in 634, when the Arabs were defeated at the Battle of the Bridge.
~636- A larger Arab Muslim force under Sa`d ibn Abī Waqqās defeated the main Persian army at the Battle of al-Qādisiyyah and moved on to capture the Persian capital of Ctesiphon.
638- By the end of 638, the Muslims had conquered all of the Western Sassanid provinces (including modern Iraq), and the last Sassanid Emperor, Yazdegerd III, had fled to central and then northern Persia, where he was killed in 651. The Islamic expansions constituted the largest of the Semitic expansions in history. These new arrivals did not disperse and settle throughout the country; instead they established two new garrison cities, at al-Kūfah, near ancient Babylon, and at Basrah in the south, while the north remained largely Assyrian and Christian in character. The Arabs' concept of a nation of "Iraq" is created at this time.
8th century- The city of Baghdad was built in the 8th century and became the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate. Baghdad soon became the primary cultural center of the Muslim world during the centuries of the "Islamic Golden Age".

Turco-Mongol invasions[]

1237- the Mongol Empire had subjugated most of Persia (incl. modern day Azerbaijan) Armenia, Georgia excluding Abbasid Iraq and Ismaili strongholds, and all of Afghanistan and Kashmir. When caliph al-Mustasim refused to submit to the Mongols, Baghdad was besieged and captured by the Mongols in 1258. With the destruction of the Abbasid Caliphate, Hulagu had an open route to Syria and moved against the other Muslim powers in the region.
1258- The Mongol Siege of Baghdad occurs.
1330s-1370s- The Jalayirid sultanate lasted about fifty years, until disrupted by Tamerlane's conquests and the revolts of the "Black Sheep Turks" or Qara Qoyunlu Turkmen.
1405- After Tamerlane's death in 1405, there was a brief attempt to re-establish the sultanate in southern Iraq and Khuzistan. The Jalayirids were finally eliminated by Kara Koyunlu in 1432.

Ottoman colonial rule[]

Late 14th and early 15th centuries- The Black Sheep Turkmen ruled the area now known as Iraq. In 1466, the White Sheep Turkmen defeated the Black Sheep and took control. From the earliest 16th century, in 1508, as with all territories of the former White Sheep Turkmen, Iraq fell into the hands of the Iranian Safavids. Owing to the century long Turco-Iranian rivalry between the Safavids and the neighbouring Ottoman Turks, Iraq would be contested between the two for more than a hundred years during the frequent Ottoman-Persian Wars.
1534-1918 - Region and becomes part of the Ottoman Empires divided up in to three to five provinces during this period.
17th century- the frequent conflicts with the Safavids had sapped the strength of the Ottoman Empire and had weakened its control over its provinces. The nomadic population swelled with the influx of Bedouins from Najd, in the Arabian Peninsula. Bedouin raids on settled areas became impossible to curb.
1639- With the Treaty of Zuhab, most of the territory of present-day Iraq eventually came under the control of Ottoman Empire as the eyalet of Baghdad as a result of wars with the neighbouring rival, Safavid Iran. Throughout most of the period of Ottoman rule (1533–1918), the territory of present-day Iraq was a battle zone between the rival regional empires and tribal alliances.
1747–1831, Iraq was ruled by a Mamluk dynasty of Georgian origin who succeeded in obtaining autonomy from the Ottoman empire, suppressed tribal revolts, curbed the power of the Janissaries, restored order and introduced a programme of modernisation of economy and military.
1831, the Ottomans managed to overthrow the Mamluk regime and imposed their direct control over Iraq. The population of Iraq, estimated at 30 million in 800 AD, was only five million at the start of the 20th century.
1852- English archaeologist Austen Henry Layard in the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh.
1913 - After signing the Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1913, the United Kingdom split the autonomous Kuwait district from Basra Province in into a separate sheikdom under British protection.

British colonial rule[]

Flag of Iraq (1921–1959) — The flag of Iraq (1921-1959).

1917 - Britain seizes control during WW1 and creates state of Iraq in 1919.
1920 - Britain gets League of Nations approval and an official mandate over the nation. The territory of the modern state of Iraq was defined in 1920 as Mandatory Iraq (Arak). The Arab nationalist rebellion known as the Great Iraqi Revolution against British rule. Some Kurds launch their own rebellion around Mosul and Kirkuk.
1921 - The Hashemite Prince Faysal, son of Hussein Bin Ali, the Sharif of Mecca, is crowned Iraq's first king. Iraq established its education system in 1921.
1922-1924 - The Mahmud Barzanji revolts and the creation of the brief Kingdom of Kurdistan.
1932 - Iraq becomes an independent state and joins the League of Nations.
1935–1936 - The Iraqi Shi'a revolt.
1935 - The Yazidi sect revolt.
1936-1941 - The first military coup took place in the Kingdom of Iraq, as Bakr Sidqi succeeded in replacing the acting Prime Minister with his associate. Multiple coups followed in a period of political instability, peaking in 1941.
1939-1941 - Iraq is neutral in World War 2.
1941-1947 - Britain re-occupies Iraq until 1945 after a short, pro-Axis Powers coup in 1941. The occupation is ended in 1947 after the defeat of a couple of more minor Pan-Arabist rebellions.
1943-1943 The Barzani revolt occurs.

Pre-Ba'arthist era[]

Iraq state emblem CoA 1959-1965 Qassem — The Iraqi state emblem under Qasim was mostly based on the sun disk symbol of Shamash, and carefully avoided pan-Arab symbolism by incorporating elements of Socialist heraldry. Iraqi state emblem (or coat of arms) adopted under the Qassem (or Kassem, Qasim, etc.) regime, official from 1959-1965.

1948 -Iraq joins the 1948 Palestine War.
1954 - Britain was to closes its military bases in Iraq. Britain and Iraq maintain resonable relations. The USA and France also get interested in the region's oil industry, as does the UK.
1958 - 1958 Iraqi Revolution.
1959 - 1959 Mosul uprising. The one-year old Arab Federation of Iraq and Jordan breaks up.
1958 - The monarchy is overthrown in the 14 July Revolution. It is a military coup led by the socialist/Iraqi nationalist Brigadier Abd-al-Karim Qasim and Nasserite Colonel Abd-al-Salam Muhammad Arif. Iraq is then declared a republic under military rule.
1958-63 - Iraq says it officially wants a 22% corporate share in the Anglo-American Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC) and a 55% share in its profits.
1960 - The dispute over Rumaila field starts when an Arab League declaration marked the Iraq–Kuwait border two miles north of the southernmost tip of the Rumaila field.
1961 - Kuwait–Iraq 1961 border skirmish.

Pre-Saddam Ba'athist era[]

Regiones petroleras - Medio Oriente — Oil and gas fields in the Levant, Egypt and the Persian Gulf.

1963 - Prime Minister Brig Qasim is ousted in a coup led by the Arab Socialist Baath Party (ASBP). Colonel Arif becomes president. The USA covertly backs the coup since they thought he was a communist and in league with the USSR. Later that year the Ba'athist government is overthrown by Colonel Arif and a group of officers. Iraq recognized Kuwait's borders.
1965-Iran to The Ayatollah Khomeini was exiled from to holy city of Najaf in Iraq.
1966 - Col Arif is killed in a 'helicopter crash' (probably an act of sabotage by Baathist agents) on 13 April and his elder brother, Major-general Abd-al-Rahman Muhammad Arif, then succeeds him as president.
1967 - Iraq joins the Six-Day War.
1968 - A Baathist led-coup ousts Maj-Gen Arif. The Revolution Command Council (RCC) takes charge with General Ahmad Hasan al-Bakr as chairman and country's president.
Early 1970s - Education became public and free at all levels and mandatory at the primary level.
1972 - Iraq nationalises the Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC).
1973 -Iraq joins their Yom Kippur War. Kuwait–Iraq 1973 Sanita border skirmish.
1974 - Iraq grants a limited autonomy to the often rebellious Kurdish region.

Saddam Hussein Ba'arthist era[]

That_moment_Saddam_Hussein_took_power_on_live_television. — That moment Saddam Hussein took power on live television.

That moment Saddam Hussein took power on live television in his 1979 purge.

Raid_on_the_Reactor_!-1 — Raid on the Reactor !-1

Operation Opera (Hebrew: אופרה‎), also known as Operation Babylon, was a surprise Israeli air strike carried out on 7th June 1981, that destroyed a nuclear reactor under construction 17 kilometers (10.5 miles) southeast of Baghdad, Iraq. This operation was after Iran's Operation Scorch Sword that damaged this nuclear facility months before.

File:Halabja poison gas attack by Saddam Hussein Kurdistan March 16 1988 Bji Kurd

Halabja poison gas attack by Saddam Hussein Kurdistan March 16 1988 Bji Kurd. Saddam cooked his political goose here.

1979 - Saddam Hussein succeeds Gen Al-Bakr as president and rules through a mix of fear, personality and favoritism. There are a couple of attempts on his life. The Kurds and Shi'ites rebel in places. The Ayatollah Khomeini is then exiled from the Holy city of Najaf to Paris. He is also later concerned by the Shi'ite Iranian Revolution, since he's a Sunni. Saddam's 1979 Ba'ath Party purge was both a way to maintain a rule by fear and the pinnacle of a threat construction plan that left people thinking there was a massive an ultra-covert plot to oust the regime under way.
1980 - The pro-Iranian Dawah Party claims responsibility for a grenade and gun attack on Deputy Prime Minister, Tariq Aziz, at the Mustansiriyah University, Baghdad. Saddam Hussein secures his position as president. The Iraqi Intelligence Service (Jihaz Al-Mukhabarat Al-Amma), also known as the Mukhabarat, General Directorate of Intelligence, or Party Intelligence, starts its reign of terror. The Pro-Iranian Revolution Shi'a cleric, Ayatollah Bashir Al-Saddar, is executed for treason. Iraqi support was given to the The Democratic Revolutionary Front for the Liberation of Arabistan (Iran's Khūzestān Province). The Democratic Revolutionary Front for the Liberation of Arabistan was an Iranian Arab militant group founded in 1979. The got notoriety for the 1980 Iraqi Embassy bombing in Rome and the 1980 Iranian Embassy siege. Iranian F-4s during the war included Operation Scorch Sword, an attack by two F-4s against the Iraqi Osirak nuclear reactor site near Baghdad on 30 September 1980. Operation Opera (Hebrew: אופרה‎), also known as Operation Babylon, was a surprise Israeli air strike carried out on 7th June 1981, that destroyed a nuclear reactor under construction 17 kilometers (10.5 miles) southeast of Baghdad, Iraq. This operation was after Iran's Operation Scorch Sword that damaged this nuclear facility months before.
1980-1988 - Iran-Iraq war occurs and one million die on both sides. Iranian Arabs, Iraqi Kurds, Iranian Kurds, Turkish Kurds, and Iraqi Shi'ites all rebel. Iran wrecks Basra and Iraq gasses some Iranian troops in southern Iraq. Later, Iraq and Iran fire scud missiles at each other's cities as a terror tactic. Iran repeatedly targets Kuwaiti oil tankers in 1984 and fires weapons at Kuwaiti security personnel stationed on Bubiyan island in 1988. Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia all pool there resources in an effort to beat Iran.
- The Iran-Iraq war is caused principally by-
  - Arab-Iranian racism
  - Shi'ia-Sunni sectarianism
  - Iraqi ethnic claims on Iran's Khūzestān Province
  - Iranian religious claims on southern Iraq and the city of Basra
  - Saddam's humongous ego.
  - The Ayatollah Khomeini's fanaticism.
  - An era of general instability in the region.
  - Iraqi\Iranian exclusive ownership plans for the jointly held Shatt Al-Arab Waterway.
1981 - Israel attacks an Iraqi nuclear research center at Tuwaythah near Baghdad in Operation Babylon. The USSR rebuilds it, but makes sure it can't make weapons-grade plutonium since they also fear his unpredictable war policy. The attack on H3, a 4th April 1981 strike by eight Iranian F-4s against the H-3 complex of air bases in the far west of Iraq, which resulted in many Iraqi aircraft being destroyed or damaged for no Iranian losses.
1983 - Saddam Hussein beings rebuilding the city of Babylon on top of the old ruins. He is also interested by other ancient sites like Nineveh and Ur. Brig Qasim also like the ancient sites and pre-Arab Iraqi history.
1983-1985 - Kurdish rebellion of 1983. Some Marsh Arabs and Shi'ites join in.
1984 - Iranian troops captured the oil-rich Majnoon Islands from Iraq in February and hold them for several years.
1988 - Iraq nerve gasses the Kurdish town of Halabja, killing ~3200 and 5000 people and injured ~7000 to 10,000, ending the Kurdish rebellion in that region. The Halabja chemical attack (Kurdish: Kîmyabarana Helebce کیمیابارانی ھەڵەبجە), also known as the Halabja Massacre or Bloody Friday, was a genocidal massacre against the Kurdish people that took place on March 16, 1988, during the closing days of the Iran–Iraq War in the Kurdish city of Halabja in Southern Kurdistan. The UK, Australia, Canada, the USA, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Iran, Turkey, France and Italy all condemn the gas attack. Saddam's Al Anthal Campaign of genocide against the Kurds continues until they give up and surrender in 1990.
1988-1991 - Project Babylon was a project to build a series of "superguns". Finally, after the Gulf War in 1991, the Iraqis admitted the existence of Project Babylon, and allowed UN inspectors to destroy the hardware in Iraq as part of the disarmament process. It was partly built between 1988 and 1990.
1989 - Iraq alleged that Kuwait was slant-drilling across the international border into Iraq's Rumaila oil field. The field was estimated (as of 2014) to contain 17 billion barrels, which accounts for 12% of Iraq's oil reserves estimated at 143.1 billion barrels.
1990 - Before 1990, Iraq's educational system in Iraq was one of the best in the region in addressing access, gender balance, ethnic balance and social equality. Iraq invades Kuwait, putting it on a collision course with the international community and thus prompting what becomes known as the first Gulf War. A massive US-led military campaign forces Iraq to withdraw in February 1991. A reported 605 to 732 oil wells are torched in Kuwait by the retreating Iraqi forces as destroyed Iraqi tank stand abandoned. Iraq's army was crushed in 1991 Gulf War that followed the invasion of Kuwait. Several Arab nations including Egypt, the UAE, Syria and Saudi Arabia condemn Iraq, and the join in the liberation of Kuwait. The Iraqi government also argued that the Kuwaiti Emir was a highly unpopular figure among the Kuwaiti populace and that the nation was relay part of Iraq.
1991 - UNESCO reports that prior to the first Gulf War in 1991 Iraq had one of the best educational systems in the region. Iraq subjected to a UN-run weapons inspection program. Southern Shi'a and northern Kurdish populations, who were both encouraged by Iraq's defeat in Kuwait and false American promises of help rebel, prompting a brutal crackdown in which thousands die. Iraq is the subjected to sanctions, weapons inspections and two no-fly zones. The Marsh Arabs are genocided, their marshes are drained (until Saddam's fall in 2003) and rivers are poisoned.
1993 - American forces launch a cruise missile attack on Iraqi intelligence headquarters in Baghdad in retaliation for the alleged attempted assassination of US President George Bush in Kuwait during that April. Iran is concerned over Iraq's geo-political integrity and instability. People like George Galloway and Tony Benn begin to question the morality of the UN operations in Iraq, leading to Saddam becoming a Robin Hood like figure in the vast bulk of the Arab World, most of the UK and parts of the USA.
1995 - The UNSC Resolution 986 allows the partial resumption of Iraq's oil exports to buy food and medicine (the Oil-for-Food Programme).
1995 - Saddam Hussein wins a dubious referendum allowing him to remain president for another seven years.
1996 - After call for aid from the KDP's rebel fighters, Iraqi forces launch offensive into northern no-fly zone and capture Irbil. In response the USA extends northern limit of southern no-fly zone to latitude 33 degrees north, just south of Baghdad. Iraq ends cooperation with UN Special Commission to Oversee the Destruction of Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction (Unscom).
1998 - After UN staff are evacuated from Baghdad, the US and UK launch a bombing campaign, Operation Desert Fox, to destroy Iraq's suspected nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs.
1999 - The Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Muhammad Sadiq al-Sadr, spiritual leader of the Shi'a community, is assassinated in Najaf by allies of the Ba'ath Party. The UNSC Resolution 1284 creates the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (Unmovic) to replace Unscom. Iraq rejects the resolution. Over this era, Saddam's brutal regime brought about the deaths of at least 250,000 Iraqis by the time of its fall.
2001 - 9/11 occurs. Saddam condemns the attacks, but gloats on Iraqi TV over the American victims. Even N. Korea condemned the attacks! His bad attitude causes much anger and frustration in the West. Many Americans even believe he had a hand in it.
2002- The Niger uranium forgeries are drawn up and disseminated by the Americans, British and Italians as a false claim Iraq was trying to get uranium ore (yellow cake) of of Niger.
2003 - The Dodgy Dossier is drawn up by Tony Blair and the UK secret services in order to create a casus belli for bombing and finally invading Iraq. It was also revealed in a separate dossier that Saddam's bunkers were mad by the following nations between 1980 and 1991: Yugoslavia - the bunkers themselves, Germany - blast doors, Sweden- computer panels, the USA- underground mail rail networks, Italy and the UK - weapons, France - Technical help, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait- cash and the USSR for the heavy equipment used for making the bunkers usable.

Post Saddam[]

2003 - The UK based UN weapons inspector, Dr David Kelly is found dead in a southern English forest. The officially presumed method of suicide was: "a hemorrhage from incised (cut) wounds of the left wrist, in combination with coproxamol ingestion and coronary artery atherosclerosis.". The Hutton inquiry investigates the death for a year. The Dogdgy Dossier is proven to be false since Iraq had destroyed all its chemical weapons, thus rendering the war illegal to the delight of the anti-Tony Blair lobby and the British Conservative Party. American army Specialists Charles Graner and Lynndie England, and army Brigadier General Janis Karpinski commit the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse scandal.
2003 - 2006 - Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse scandal comes to light and those found guilty are duly punished.
2003 - 2014 - A botched and hopelessly over overoptimistic US-led coalition invades, starting years of guerrilla warfare, sectarian bombings and instability. The British Conservative Party uses the bloody fares for political gain and use it as part of a wider campaign to undermine the Labour government of Tony Blair. Sunni militias like Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi created their militias and start fighting against the Coalition forces and the local Shi'ites. The British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and his government agree to set up the Hutton Inquiry. An initial announcement that proceedings would take place in private, a decision which was subsequently reversed after receiving criticism of undue secrecy in the media and the House of Commons. The public inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the death Dr David Kelly is held and concludes he had committed suicide. Many people didn't believe this, since it was too much of a coincidence to be an accident, and the Conservative Party encouraged this belief for political gain against both Labour and the war in Iraq.
2004-2007 - Shi'ites like the militias Mahdi Army and Saddam loyalists cause hell and kill many Coalition forces. Kurdistan is de facto independent by now.
2005 - An Austrian journalist revealed that Fritz Edlinger's firm, GÖAB, had received $100,000 from an Iraqi front company as well as donations from Austrian companies soliciting business in Iraq. The first elections since the invasion took place, but they were of dubious integrity.
2006 - Saddam is tried in Iraq by Iraqis and is then found guilty of various crimes against his people and is hung. ISIS first rears its ugly head in an insurgent attack in Anbar Province.
2006-2007 - A peak in sectarian and ethic violence between February 2006 and February 2007.
2007 - America's Iraq War troop surge occurs. The British media exaggerated the UK's forces, Iraqi civilian and Iraqi government forces's deaths as playing down Iraqi insurgent ad American troops' losses.The Holocaust teaching controversy of 2007 was cooked up by anti-Blairites as a series of sensationalist claims mainly circulated in emails which stated that teaching of the Holocaust had been banned in British schools because of fears that this could offend Muslim pupils. The claims contained in the emails were false, but less radical inspired by real events. Conservative party sympathisers and non-involved anti-Blairites fed on it, as did terrified Jews and betrayed Muslims. On 2nd April 2007, the Daily Mail started the story on the subject with "Schools [plural, contrary to the findings of the report] are dropping the Holocaust from history lessons to avoid offending Muslim pupils, a Government backed study has revealed." Later, the New York Post got sucked in to the political disinformation campaign ran an article headlined "U.K. SCHOOLS' SICKENING SILENCE" in which the writer asserted the statement "may be the scariest sentence I ever read". After email messages continued to circulate into 2008 the British government Schools Secretary Ed Balls was forced to write to every Embassy in the country to refute the allegation that schools had banned or were reluctant to teach about the Holocaust. The Conservatives and anti-Blairites were jubilant, if not orgasmic, with delight!
2009 - Prime Minister Gordon Brown set up The Iraq Inquiry, also referred to as the Chilcot Inquiry after its chairman, Sir John Chilcot. The public inquiry into the nation's role in the Iraq War.
2010 - Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is appointed the new leader of the Islamic State of Iraq (IS/ISIL/ISIS) on 16 May 2010. The then leader of the Conservative Party, Michael Howard, called for a full inquest in to the declaration of war and Dr Kelly's death, and Dominic Grieve, the Attorney General for England and Wales, confirmed that he was considering re-opening it.
2010- to date - The Syrian Civil War spills over in to Anbar Province, Baghdad and western Iraqi Kurdistan. American forces flee from Iraq as a broken force, but others including the UK and Italy stay on untill 2014.
2011-2012-Nouri Kamil Mohammed Hasan al-Maliki (Arabic: نوري كامل محمد حسن المالكي‎; born 20 June 1950) Al-Maliki worked closely with United States and coalition forces in Iraq following their departure by the end of 2011. He spent most of 2011 and 2012 brutally repressing Iraqi Sunnis on mass after several protests over the failing conditions and sectarian situation in. He also began to promoting Iraqi Shi'ites (Shia) at all costs.
2011 - to date - ISIS rebellion starts in Iraq and Syria. Several bombs go off in Turkey and fighting spills over in to Lebanon, Israel and Jordan. Many Iraqis and Syrians die. Many in the Iraqi and EU establishment and in activist groups start slagging off the Americans and or the British occupying forces, whilst going all goo-goo eyed over ISIS.
2014 - The last of the Western Coalition forces pull out of Iraq and abandon it to its fate. It is reveled by Edward Snowden, American veterans, local Iraqis and others that the USA wanted revenge over Iraq invading Kuwait in the 1990's and was generally fearful of a resentment Iraq, whilst the UK wanted to wipe out any Ba'athist, Shi'a militias, moderate Sunnis and Kurds worth bombing in a thankfully botched and failed de facto war of political/ethnic/religious cleansing. The plot (as far as I can tell) was to leave the nation in ruins, blame the understandably vengeful USA and/or the Iraqis themselves, screw up the rebuilding of the nation and leave the way open for a Sunni jihadi militias takeover and thus put Iraq into the hands of the likes of Ansar-al-Islam, ISIS, and alike.
2015 - to date - The UK, USA, France, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Qatar unite to bomb ISIS sites and forces in Iraq and Syria. The British Labour Party swears loyalty to ISIS/ISIL/IS and accuses the enemies if Isis of being Zionist puppets. The SNP racistly condemn Lib' Dems and Conservatives for being mostly English and by de fault find themselves on the same side as Labour and ISIL. The Lib Dems call for peace and the Conservative call for war. The Syrian and Iraqi refugees hemorrhage in to Europe via an overwhelmed and confused Russia, Romania, Turkey, Greece, Cyprus, Lebanon, Macedonia and Bulgaria. Most of them end up in Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Sweden, Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, Greece, Slovenia, Serbia and Macedonia. British jihads pour in to the ISIS zone as the prime Minister dithered like a fool until a belated UK drone strike or two took place, the French kept out of most of the fighting and Americans got involved to save there oil interests in Mosul and Kirkuk (ISIS is in both Iraq, Iraqi Kurdistan and Syria).
Mid 2016- ISIL starts to lose ground in places to Russia, Syria's Assad regime, the Iraqi government, Iraqi Kurds, the Iraqi Baddar Brigades, the USAF, Ansar Al-Islam, Syrian Kurds and the French air force. The Chilcot Report is released and Tony Blair is condemned for not checking his facts and going to war on a false or mistaken casus belli (motive). The families of dead soldiers call it a cover up, say the war was illegal and Tony Blair was a war crime because their relatives died in the war, which they could not stomach.
October 2016- The Badr Brigades, Peshmerger, Iraqi forces, Iranian agents and several NATO nations start to close in on Mosul and smash ISIS forces several villages and are welcomed by surviving Yadzidi Kurds, Arab Christians and Muslim Kurds. ISIS makes some determined attacks on Kirkuk. They use several car bombs on advancing Iraqi and Kurdish troops in both cities.