Iraq: Human Rights and Chemical Weapons Use

1
Iraq Human Rights and Chemical Weapons Use
2
Kurds of Iraq

• Kurds are a stateless people scattered over
  Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran
• Kurds make up more than 4 million of Iraqs
  population of 18 million

3
History of Kurds

• Were promised a state of their own in 1922, but
  Turkey refused to ratify the Treaty of Sevres and
  the idea was dropped.
• This same pact would have required prosecution of
  Turks for their atrocities against the Armenians
• Iraqi Kurds staged frequent rebellions in hopes
  of governing themselves

4
History of the Kurds

• In 1970, Iraq offered the Kurds self-rule in a
  Kurdistan Autonomous Region that covered half of
  the territory that the Kurds considered theirs.
• It excluded Kurdish-populated oil-rich provinces.
• Kurds reject the offer

5
History of the Kurds

• Saddam Hussein, imposed the plan unilaterally in
  1974
• Kurds thought they would get support from the
  United States, Iran, and Israel
• U.S. was concerned with Iraqs friendship with
  the Soviet Union
• Iran and Iraq were in a dispute over their border
• Kurds revolt under their leader, Mullah Mustafa
  Barzani

6
History of the Kurds

• 1975, Algiers agreement temporarily settles
  border dispute between Iraq and Iran
• Iraq agrees to recognize the Iranian border
• Iran and U.S. withdraw their support for the
  Kurds
• Without the support of Iran and U.S., Kurd revolt
  collapses
• Kurds were treated by Saddam Hussein as traitors
  for aligning with the enemy

7
History of the Kurds

• Saddam ordered the 4,000 sq mi. of Kurdish
  territory in northern Iraq, Arabized
• Imported large Arab communities (Kurds were
  Muslim)
• Required Kurds to leave any area he considered
  strategically valuable
• Many were deported to the southern border within
  2 months
• Some sources say 200,000 others say as nearly ½ a
  million.

8
Two Leaders

• Ayatollah Khomeini

• Saddam Heusein

9
Iran-Iraq War

• In 1980, Iraq turned its back on the Algiers
  agreement that had settled the border dispute
  with Iran five years earlier
• Iraq claimed the entire Shatt al-Arab waterway
• Saddam wanted to demonstrate to the new regime of
  the Ayatollah Khomeini that it was the regional
  strongman
• U.S. did not want oil reserves to fall into the
  hands of Khomeini, a radical Islamist

10
Iran-Iraq War
11
Iran-Iraq War

• U.S. ends up aligned with a genocidal regime,
  Iran
• Provides Iraq with 210 million in ag credits to
  buy U.S. grain
• Would soon climb to 500 million a year
• U.S. removes Iraq from its list of countries
  sponsoring terrorists
• 1984- U.S. and Iran restore diplomatic relations

12
Iran-Iraq War

• U.S. knew of Husseins reliance on torture and
  executions, but U.S. could not allow Iran to
  defeat him.
• As Iraq gained favor with U.S., the Kurds
  continued to lose favor with Iraq
• More resettlements took place
• Both major Kurdish political parties opted to
  team with Iran
• Met with horrible consequences

13
Iran-Iraq War

• Americans had sort of written off the region and
  did not even complain when Hussein acquired
  between 2,000 and 4,000 tons of chemical weapons
  and experimented on the Iranians.
• Iraq used chemical weapons about 195 times
  between 1983 and 1988, killing or wounding some
  50,000 people, many of them civilians

14
Iran-Iraq War

• The most the international community mustered was
  a 1987 UN Security Council Resolution that
  generally deplored chemical weapons use
• Once the Iraqi dictator, Hussein, knew he would
  not be sanctioned for using these weapons against
  Iran, he knew he was on to something.

15
Iran-Iraq War

• Hussein did become alarmed with press reports
  about American backroom arms deals with Iran
• Let Peter Galbraith, a journalist?, come along on
  a 8 day fact finding trip in Sept. 1987
• Kurdish village after Kurdish village had been
  destroyed
• In his report, Galbraith recommended the U.S.
  pursue economic sanctions against Iran and work
  through the United Nations to bring war to a
  close

16
Iran-Iraq War

• Larry Pope, State Department office director for
  Iran and Iraq said U.S. knew something dreadful
  was going on.
• Knew Kurdish villages were being razed
• U.S. thought these actions were temporary
• Surely they would not waste precious resources
  destroying their own population when they were
  trying to win a war with Iran

17
Iran-Iraq War

• Having seen how effective chemical weapons could
  be against his external foe, Hussein turned them
  now on his chief internal enemy, the Kurds
• In May 1987, Iraq became the first country ever
  to attack its own citizens with chemical weapons.
• September 1987, New York Times notes that Iraq
  had dynamited some 500 villages in the past 6
  months

18
Iran-Iraq War

• The American response to Iraqi chemical weapons
  use against Iran, early reports of use against
  the Kurds, and ongoing Iraqi bulldozing of
  Kurdish villages was extremely tame.

19
Iraq-Iran War

• In March 1988 Iraqi forces gassed the Kurdish
  town of Halabja
• Halabja, a border town, was just seven miles east
  of a strategically vital source of water for
  Baghdad
• Kurdish-Iranian soldiers replaced the Iraqis
  overnight
• March 16, Iraq counterattacks with deadly gasses
• Halabja became known as the Kurdish Hiroshima
• 5,000 Kurds were killed immediately and thousands
  more injured

20
Iran-Iraq War

• Iraq justified its attacks against the Kurds on
  the grounds that it had to destroy the Kurdish
  saboteurs who with Iran.
• Those who worked with Iran had obtained gas masks
• It was unarmed Kurdish civilians who were left
  helpless

21
Iran-Iraq War

• Halabja was the deadliest single gas attack on
  Kurds
• Was one of at least 40 other chemical assaults
  ordered by al-Majid

22
Iran-Iraq WarU.S. Skepticism

• The gassing reports were met with U.S. skepticism
• Americans distrusted Iranian sources
• Used words like allegations of gassing
• Iraq denies reports of fighting in the area
• Some Kurds had taken up arms with the Iranians so
  was viewed by American sources as a part of war.
  They were lumped with the forces responsible for
  taking U.S. hostages

23
Iran-Iraq WarU.S. Skepticism

• Since Halabja was only 15 miles from inside Iraq,
  Western reporters were able to witness with their
  own eyes
• Iran was eager to provide evidence of war crimes
  against Iraq
• Iraq led their own tours and denied the
  atrocities
• U.S. official position was to confined to
  criticize weapons used
• this is a reminder to all countries why chemical
  warfare should be banned

24
Iran-Iraq WarU.S. Skepticism

• U.S. issued no threats or demands
• Claimed the proof of Iraqi responsibility was
  inconclusive
• At UN security council, US blocked an Iranian
  attempt to raise question of responsibility for
  attack
• The story of Halabja died down as quickly as it
  sprang up and the State Department maintained
  full support for Iraq

25
Iran-Iraq WarMass Executions

• Most Kurds who died in the Anfal were killed in
  mass executions
• Senior Reagan administration officials made it
  plain that the fate of the Kurds was not their
  concern
• Several Kurds survived Iraqi firing squads and
  later came forward to describe the horror

26
Iran-Iraq War

• U.S. and European policymakers had long refused
  to meet officially with the Iraqi Kurdish leaders
  for fear of irritating Saddam Hussein
• Jalal Talabani, one leader of the Iraqi Kurds
  two main political parties, traveled to
  Washington, D.C. in June 1988 to gain an audience
  with the West.

27
Iran-Iraq War

• Larry Pope, the State Departments Iran-Iraq
  office director, agreed to met with Talabani at
  the State Department
• This meant ignoring the ordinance that all
  contact with the Kurds was to occur off U.S.
  government property
• First outrage came not from Iran, but from
  Turkish President, Kenan Evren

28
Iran-Iraq War

• Iraqis also upset
• U.S. calmed their fears and sent the message that
  our relations with Iraq and Turkey were more
  important than what Hussein was doing to the
  Kurds.
• In late June and July the Iraqis staged chemical
  weapons attacks throughout Kurdish territory

29
Iran-Iraq War

• In 1987-1988, U.S. concentrated on securing an
  arms embargo against Iran
• Gave assistance to Iraq, but did not sell them
  weapons
• Provided them with intelligence gathered from
  AWACS early-warning aircraft
• Gave damage estimates on Iraqi attacks
• Reported Iranian troop movements
• Iran saw a decrease in number of enlistments

30
Iran-Iraq War

• Khomeini agrees to a cease fire in July 1988
• More than 1 million soldiers and civilians on
  both sides died in the war
• Not an inch of land changed hands
• Aug. 20, 1988, Iran and Iraq signed an armistice
• Aug. 25, 1988, Iraq launched a new attack on
  Kurdish villages
• U.S. officials finally had to take notice

31
Final Offensive Against the Kurds

• The final offensive against the Kurds was widely
  known
• New York Times ran a long front page story on
  Sept. 1, 1988
• 65,000 Kurdish victims and survivors go to Turkey

32
Final Offensive Against The Kurds

• U.S officials were reluctant to criticize Iraq
  and too refuge in the absence of perfect
  information.
• Said reports from Turkish border were not
  unanimous.
• The Regan administrations endless search for
  evidence provided a familiar fig leaf for
  inaction.

33
Aftermath

• U.S. calls on the UN to send in a team of experts
  to Iraq to investigate.
• Prior investigations had concluded in 1986, 1987,
  and 1988 that Iraq had used chemical weapons
  against Iran
• By 1989 only a few hundred villages remained
  standing I Husseins Kurdish autonomous region.
• 4,049 villages had been destroyed

34
Aftermath

• George Bush Sr. takes over White House in Jan.
  1989
• Iraq became the 9th largest purchaser of U.S.
  farm goods
• 12 Western states join together at the UN Human
  Rights Commission and sponsor a resolution to
  make a through study of the human rights
  situation in Iraq.
• U.S. refuses to join

35
Aftermath

• Oct. 2, 1989, a year after Kurds tumble into
  Turkey fleeing gas attacks, President Bush signs
  National Security Directive 26 (NSD-26) that says
  normal relations between the U.S. and Iraq would
  serve our long-term interests and promote
  stability in the Gulf and Middle East.

36
Aftermath

• April 2, 1990- Sadaam Hussein confims Iraq
  possesses chemical weapons
• Also gives his burn Israel speech
• By God, we will make fire eat up half of Israel
  if Israel attacks Iraq
• A week after the sanctions bill clears the
  Senate, Iraq invaded Kuwait.
• U.S. bombing of Baghdad begins Jan. 17, 1991

37
Aftermath

• Feb. 15, 1991 President Bush gives a speech.
  There is another way for the bloodshed to stop,
  and that is for the Iraqi military and Iraqi
  people to take matters into their own hands and
  force Saddam Hussein to step aside.
• Feb. 27, 1991 Bush declares a cease fire
• 100 hours after ground war begins
• Kurds rise up in the north on March 6th

38
Aftermath

• Kurds banked on U.S. military support and
  overestimated the damage already inflicted on the
  Iraqi military by the allied attack.
• Could turn into public relations disaster for
  U.S.
• April 16, 1991, U.S. launches Operation Provide
  Comfort
• Carves out a safe haven for Kurds in northern Iraq

39
Justice

• Today Kurdish women survivors cling to rumors
  that their husbands remain alive in secret jails
  in the desert
• 70,000 Kurds have returned to Halabja where
  massive gas attacks took place
• Survivors remain blinded from burns
• Miscarriages and birth defects such as cleft
  palates are common

40
Justice

• High rate of lymphomas and leukemia
• No radiation or chemotherapy is available
• In their failed revolt against Baghdad in 1991
  Kurds stormed secret police buildings and
  recovered documents
• Were not thinking of prosecuting officials just
  obtaining names of informants
• Records were transferred to National Archives in
  Washington, D.C.

41
Justice

• Human Rights Watch was granted exclusive access
  to the documents
• In 1992 and 1993 they interviewed 350 survivors
• Physicians for Human Rights exhumed mass graves
  and gathered forensic material
• Was the kind of study a U.S. government
  determined to stop atrocities might have
  attempted while the crimes were underway

42
Justice

• Human Rights Watch found between 50,000 and
  100,000 Kurds (most children and children) were
  executed or disappeared between Feb. and Sept.
  1998 alone.
• The confiscated Iraqi government records
  explicitly recorded the Iraqi aims to wipe out
  rural Kurdish life

43
Justice

• Having documented the genocide, Human Rights
  Watch assigned lawyer Richard Dicker to draw up a
  legal case in spring 1994.
• His role was to prepare a tight case and persuade
  a state to take it on.
• If a genocide case were filed, the International
  Court of Justice could recommend that Iraqi
  assets be seized and that perpetrators be
  punished at home, abroad, or in some
  international court.

44
Justice

• In July 1995, Secretary of State Warren
  Christopher signed a communique that found Iraq
  had committed genocide against Iraqs Kurds and
  endorsed Human Rights Watchs efforts to file a
  case against Iraq.
• To this day, no Iraqi soldier or political leader
  has been punished for atrocities committed
  against the Kurds.